King James Version · Under Rome
Revelation 12
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And there appeared a great wonder in ; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be . And there appeared another wonder in ; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten , and seven upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of , and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be , for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a : and her child was caught up unto , and to his . And the woman fled into , where she hath a place prepared of , that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in : and his fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his , And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in . And the great dragon was cast out, , called , and , which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in , Now is come , and strength, and of our , and the of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our day and night. And they overcame him by of , and by the word of their ; and they loved not their lives unto the . Therefore rejoice, ye , and ye that in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great , because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two of a great eagle, that she might fly into , into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the of . And cast out of his water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her , and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his . And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with of her , which keep of , and have the of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.