Revelation 12 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The two signs — the woman and the dragon 12:1–6

vv. 1–2 — the first sign: the woman clothed with the sun, in labor

And a great sign appeared in heaven:independent — the frame — σημεῖον, a portent not a miracle; ὤφθη, the passive of visionary disclosure

a woman clothed with the sun,phrase modifier — the sign's content in apposition — Zion, the messianic people (Gen 37:9; Isa 66:7)

and the moon under her feet,phrase modifier — the tableau column — verbless: the moon her footstool

and on her head a crown of twelve stars,phrase modifier — third glory — the twelve of Israel's tribes worn as a victor's wreath

and being with child,participial — the tableau's participle — ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχειν, the LXX's idiom for pregnancy (Isa 7:14)

and she cries out,independent — the finite present breaks through the tableau — the cry heard, not painted

in labor and in torment to give birth.participial — twin manner participles — Zion in travail (Isa 26:17; Mic 4:10); τεκεῖν epexegetic

vv. 3–4 — the second sign: the great red dragon, poised to devour

And another sign appeared in heaven:independent — the second frame — ὤφθη repeated: the adversary is also displayed from heaven's stage

and behold, a great fiery-red dragon,independent — ἰδού + nominative tableau — the chaos-serpent of the myths (cf. Isa 27:1), blood-red

having seven heads and ten horns,participial — Dan 7's fourth beast conflated with the whole menagerie — the numbers return at 13:1; 17:3

and on his heads seven diadems,phrase modifier — διαδήματα not στέφανοι — usurped royal bands against the woman's victor's crown

And his tail sweeps away a third of the stars of heavenindependent — vivid present σύρει amid the aorists — Dan 8:10, the little horn casting down stars

and cast them to the earth.independent — the aorist resumes — the first of the chapter's many castings-down (βάλλω)

And the dragon stood before the womanindependent — perfect ἕστηκεν — the stance taken and held: the ambush posted at the birthstool

who was about to give birth,participial — attributive participle — the moment chosen: at the point of delivery

so that, whenever she bore her child,conditional — temporal (ὅταν) nested inside the purpose — ἵνα carried with it, governing καταφάγῃ below

he might devour it.purpose — the purpose bared to one verb — καταφάγῃ, the whole ambush in a word (cf. Jer 51:34)

vv. 5–6 — the birth, the snatching to the throne, the flight

And she bore a son, a male child,independent — SOLECISM kept — neuter ἄρσεν in apposition to masculine υἱόν (Isa 66:7 LXX ἄρσεν)

who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.relative — Ps 2:9 LXX — ποιμανεῖς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ: the child identified as Messiah by his destiny (cf. 2:27; 19:15)

And her child was caught up to God and to his throne.independent — the whole career compressed — from birth straight to enthronement, the cross passed over in a passive

And the woman fled into the wilderness,independent — the exodus pattern — the wilderness as the place of God's keeping (Exod 16; Hos 2:14)

where she has there a place prepared by God,relative — Semitic pleonasm kept — ὅπου…ἐκεῖ (Hebrew אֲשֶׁר…שָׁם); ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ marks the preparer

so that there they might nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.purpose — indefinite plural τρέφωσιν — a divine passive in plural dress; 1,260 days = the 42 months of 11:2–3

War in heaven — the dragon cast down, and the hymn 12:7–12

vv. 7–9 — Michael's war; the triple ἐβλήθη

And there was war in heaven:independent — the frame — ἐγένετο πόλεμος, the second panel opens (Dan 10:13, 21)

Michael and his angels — to make war with the dragon.phrase modifier — ANACOLUTHON kept — nominatives with the articular infinitive τοῦ πολεμῆσαι, the Hebrew לְהִלָּחֵם construction: no finite verb ever comes

And the dragon fought, and his angels,independent — the subject split around its verb — the dragon's host trailing after

and he did not prevail,independent — singular ἴσχυσεν — the defeat is the dragon's own; his angels fall with him

nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven.independent — Dan 2:35 Θ — οὐχ εὑρέθη τόπος: the eviction total, the accuser's standing-room gone

And the great dragon was thrown down —independent — the first ἐβλήθη — the verb of v. 4 turned against its subject

the ancient serpent,phrase modifier — first naming — Gen 3's serpent unmasked as the dragon

the one called Devil and Satan,participial — second naming — the Greek slanderer and the Hebrew accuser, both his names

the deceiver of the whole inhabited world —participial — third naming — the present participle: deceiving is his ongoing trade

he was thrown to the earth,independent — the second ἐβλήθη — resumptive after the pile of names, now with its destination

and his angels were thrown down with him.independent — the third casting — ἐβλήθησαν closes the refrain: dragon, verb, host, verb

vv. 10–12 — the great voice: the victory hymn and the woe

And I heard a loud voice in heavenindependent — the seer's ear — the battle is interpreted by liturgy, not narration

saying:participial — the speech participle — the hymn hangs from this word through v. 12

‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ,content — Ἄρτι — the eschatological ‘now’; four nominatives arrive with one aorist ἐγένετο (cf. 11:15)

because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down,cause — the ground — ἐβλήθη again, now in heaven's own mouth; κατήγωρ, the Semitized form of κατήγορος (cf. קָטֵיגוֹר)

who accuses them before our God day and night.participial — the courtroom of Job 1 and Zech 3 — κατηγορῶν with accusative αὐτούς for the expected genitive, kept

And they themselves conquered himcontent — emphatic αὐτοί — the accused turn out to be the victors

because of the blood of the Lambcause — διά + accusative — ground, not instrument: the Lamb's blood is the basis of their victory

and because of the word of their testimony,cause — the second ground — their spoken witness joined to his blood (cf. 6:9)

and they did not love their life even unto death.content — the cost named — martyrdom as the shape of the victory (cf. Luke 14:26)

Therefore rejoice,content — the call — διὰ τοῦτο draws the joy from the casting-down

O heavens and you who tabernacle in them!phrase modifier — nominative for vocative — σκηνοῦντες, the tent-word of God's dwelling (7:15; 21:3), for heaven's residents

Woe to the earth and the sea,content — SOLECISM kept — οὐαί with the accusative (elsewhere dative, 8:13): the woe strikes its objects

because the devil has come down to youcause — the ground of the woe — heaven's victory is earth's emergency

having great wrath,participial — manner — θυμός, boiling rage, not settled hostility

knowing that he has but little time.participial — causal participle with its ὅτι-content — the rage is eschatological arithmetic: the clock is short

The pursuit of the woman 12:13–17

vv. 13–16 — the chase: eagle wings, the river, the earth's help

And when the dragon sawconditional — temporal (ὅτε) — leans on ἐδίωξεν below

that he had been thrown down to the earth,content — the object of his seeing is his own ἐβλήθη — the refrain of v. 9 in his eyes

he pursued the womanindependent — the apodosis — ἐδίωξεν, the persecution-verb: cheated of the child, he hunts the mother

who had borne the male child.relative — the woman identified by the birth — masculine τὸν ἄρσενα, where v. 5 had the bare neuter ἄρσεν

And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman,independent — divine passive ἐδόθησαν — Exod 19:4: ‘I bore you on eagles’ wings’; the exodus replayed

so that she might fly into the wilderness, to her place,purpose — the purpose of the gift — τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς: the place of v. 6, now hers

where she is nourished there for a time, and times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent.relative — Dan 7:25; 12:7 — Daniel's clock, equal to the 1,260 days of v. 6; ὅπου…ἐκεῖ again; ἀπὸ προσώπου, Hebrew מִפְּנֵי

And the serpent spewed from his mouth, after the woman, water like a river,independent — ἔβαλεν — the thrown-down one now throws; the chaos-flood from the mouth (Ps 18:4; 32:6)

so that he might make her one swept away by the river.purpose — ποταμοφόρητον — a coinage: ‘river-borne’; drowning where devouring failed

But the earth helped the woman,independent — the reversal — the earth, target of the woe (v. 12), turns ally

and the earth opened its mouthindependent — mouth against mouth — Num 16:32's swallowing earth, now on the woman's side

and swallowed the riverindependent — κατέπιεν — the devourer's own verb (καταπίνω ~ κατεσθίω v. 4) turned on his weapon

that the dragon had spewed from his mouth.relative — the river tagged to its source — ὄφις and δράκων used interchangeably for the one enemy

v. 17 — war on the rest of her seed

And the dragon was enraged at the woman,independent — ὠργίσθη — the third failure boils over into rage

and he went offindependent — ἀπῆλθεν — he quits the woman for a new front

to make war with the rest of her offspring,purpose — purpose infinitive — ποιῆσαι πόλεμον μετά, Dan 7:21's idiom; τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῆς, Gen 3:15's seed of the woman

those who keep the commandments of Godparticipial — the seed defined — first mark: obedience (cf. 14:12)

and hold the testimony of Jesus.participial — second mark — the book's word-pair (1:2, 9; 6:9): commandments kept, testimony held

The dragon on the sand of the sea 12:18

And he stood on the sand of the sea.independent — critical text 12:18 — ἐστάθη, the dragon takes his stand (Byzantine/KJV: ἐστάθην, ‘I stood’, as 13:1a); posted at the shore to summon the beast from the sea

Analysis. The chapter is the book's central diptych, and the shape draws it as Revelation always writes: flush-left καί-chains of narrative aorists, with the two σημεῖον-frames (vv. 1, 3) each opening onto a dashed verbless tableau — the woman's three glories (sun-garment, moon-footstool, twelve-star crown) hang as a column under γυνή, and the dragon's heads, horns, and diadems under δράκων, before the finite verbs break through (κράζει v. 2, σύρει v. 4, both vivid presents amid aorists). The one deep nest of the first panel is v. 4b: the ἵνα of the dragon's purpose is carried with its embedded ὅταν τέκῃ temporal, laid out protasis-fashion above the bare subjunctive καταφάγῃ — the whole ambush in two lines. In the war scene the layout keeps John's Hebraism standing: ὁ Μιχαὴλ καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ τοῦ πολεμῆσαι is a verbless anacoluthon (nominatives with an articular infinitive, the Hebrew לְהִלָּחֵם construction), flagged not smoothed; the fourfold naming of v. 9 stacks as appositions under the first ἐβλήθη before the verb returns twice more — a triple casting-down. The hymn of vv. 10–12 hangs as a blue quoted column under the voice's λέγουσαν, with its ὅτι-ground, the διά + accusative pair under ἐνίκησαν read as grounds of victory (price, not instrument), and the closing woe kept in its solecistic accusative (οὐαὶ τὴν γῆν). In the pursuit, ὅτε (v. 13) leans forward on ἐδίωξεν per the house convention for temporal frames, the Semitic pleonasm ὅπου…ἐκεῖ appears twice uncorrected (vv. 6, 14), and Daniel's clock (καιρὸν καὶ καιροὺς καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ) is tagged to 7:25. Interpretive choices: ἄρσεν (v. 5) is kept as the jarring neuter beside masculine υἱόν; the indefinite τρέφωσιν (v. 6) is read as a divine passive in plural dress; and v. 18 is printed as the critical text's ἐστάθη — the dragon, not the seer, takes his stand on the sand to summon the beast.