啟示錄
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第十二章
生子的女人和大龍
1 那時,天上出現了一個奇偉的景象:有一個婦人,身披太陽,腳踏月亮,頭戴十二顆星的冠冕。
2 她懷了孕,在生產的痛苦中疼痛呼叫。
3 天上又出現了另一個景象。看哪!有一條大紅龍,有七頭十角,七頭上戴着七個皇冠。
4 它的尾巴拖着天上三分之一的星辰,把它們摔在地上。龍站在那快要生產的婦人面前,等她生產了,就要吞吃她的孩子。
5 她生了一個男孩子,就是將來要用鐵杖治理列國的。她的孩子被提取到 神和他寶座那裡去。
6 婦人就逃到曠野去了,那裡有 神為她預備的地方。她在那裡得供養一千二百六十天。
7 天上發生了戰爭:米迦勒和他的天使與龍作戰。龍和它的天使也起來應戰,
8 龍卻抵擋不住,天上再也沒有它們的地方了。
9 於是那大龍被摔了下來。它就是那古蛇,名叫魔鬼,又叫撒但,是迷惑普天下的人的。它被摔在地上,它的天使也跟它一同被摔了下來。
10 我又聽見天上有大聲音說:“我們 神的救恩、能力、國度和他所立的基督的權柄,現在都已經來到了!因為那晝夜在我們 神面前控告我們弟兄的控告者,已經被摔下來了!
11 弟兄勝過它,是因着羊羔的血,也因着自己所見證的道,他們雖然至死,也不愛惜自己的性命。
12 所以,眾天和住在其中的,你們都歡樂吧!可是地和海有禍了!因為魔鬼知道自己的時日無多,就大大發怒下到你們那裡去了。”
13 龍見自己被摔在地上,就迫害那生了男孩子的婦人。
14 於是有大鷹的兩個翅膀賜給了那婦人,使她可以飛到曠野,到自己的地方,在那裡得供養一年兩年半年,離開那蛇的面。
15 蛇在婦人後面,從口中吐出水來,好像江河一樣,要把婦人衝去。
16 地卻幫助了那婦人,張開口,把從龍口中吐出來的河水吞了。
17 龍就向婦人發怒,去和她其餘的子孫作戰,就是和那遵守 神命令堅持耶穌見證的人作戰。
18 那時,龍站在海邊的沙上。
1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
9 The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.
15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.
16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.