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Revelation 12 · a question people ask

"the woman who gave birth to the male child" (12:13). Who is the male child?

In the text

Here is what the chapter says of him. The dragon stood before the woman "so that when she gave birth he might devour her child" (12:4). 12:5 tells of his birth and what became of him (the section A great sign was seen in heaven quotes it). Afterwards the dragon "persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child" (12:13). The chapter calls him "her child" and "the male child", and doesn't name him, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 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.”
Revelation 12:4-5 · World English Bible
“When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.”
Revelation 12:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Revelation 12

Revelation 12: The woman and the dragon

The woman has "a place prepared by God" (12:6), and when the dragon persecutes her, she is given wings "that she might fly into the wilderness to her place" (12:14). The place God prepared, the chapter calls her place.

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Last reviewed October 12, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions