She gave birth to a son who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne.
Parallel translations
- WEB She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God, and to his throne.
- KJV And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
- BSB And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
- NKJV She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
- NASB And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The woman bears a son who will rule the nations with an iron rod, and He is caught up to God's throne. This is Christ, born, victorious, and exalted beyond the dragon's reach.
Overview
The male child who rules "with a rod of iron" is unmistakably the Messiah of Psalm 2:9. His being "caught up to God and to his throne" telescopes Jesus's life, death, resurrection, and ascension into a single triumphant statement. The dragon's plan to devour Him utterly fails; Christ reigns at God's right hand. This is the heart of the gospel: the promised Son conquers and is enthroned in glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Rev 19:15Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
- Rev 2:26–27He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.
- Ps 2:9–10You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
- Rev 12:2She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.
- Isa 7:14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
- Matt 1:25and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.
- Mic 5:3Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
- Rev 11:12I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” They went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them.
- Mark 16:19So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
- 2 Cor 12:2I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows), such a one caught up into the third heaven.
- Jer 31:22How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? for Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.”
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 12:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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