Passage

Revelation 12.9

NASB95 text pending

This single verse is the canonical biblical "Satan equation": the text that explicitly identifies four distinct figures, the dragon of Revelation, the ancient serpent of Genesis 3, the devil (Greek diabolos, "slanderer"), and Satan (Hebrew satan, "adversary"), as one and the same being. Without Revelation 12:9, a critic could read the Eden serpent, Job's satan, Zechariah's accuser, the New Testament devil, and the Apocalypse dragon as five unrelated characters; with it, the entire biblical Satan narrative from Eden through the eschaton is welded into a single arc. The verse also frames Satan's defining activity in three terms: he deceives the whole world (cosmic scope), he is the accuser of the brethren (legal-courtroom role, v. 10), and his cosmic-political position has been broken by the cross (vv. 7-12 read with John 12:31).

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; 8. And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven."

"9. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him."

"10. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night. 11. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death." (Revelation 12:7-11, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"7. There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8. They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven."

"9. The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."

"10. I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. 11. They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death." (Revelation 12:7-11, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven."

"9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

"10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Revelation 12:7-11, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"7. And there came war in the heaven; Michael and his messengers did war against the dragon, and the dragon did war, and his messengers, 8. and they did not prevail, nor was their place found any more in the heaven;"

"9. and the great dragon was cast forth, the old serpent, who is called 'Devil,' and 'the Adversary,' who is leading astray the whole world, he was cast forth to the earth, and his messengers were cast forth with him."

"10. And I heard a great voice saying in the heaven, 'Now did come the salvation, and the power, and the reign, of our God, and the authority of His Christ, because cast down was the accuser of our brethren, who is accusing them before our God day and night; 11. and they did overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life, unto death;" (Revelation 12:7-11, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: John the Apostle (traditional attribution; modern critical scholarship sometimes distinguishes John of Patmos), narrating the heavenly vision
Audience: the seven churches of Asia Minor under late-first-century pressure, plus successive Christian readerships
Location: Patmos for composition; the vision spans war in heaven and pursuit on earth
Time period: composed c. AD 95 under Domitian (the majority view), or c. AD 65-68 under Nero (minority dating)

Theological reading

Revelation 12 narrates a cosmic war whose temporal anchor is debated but whose theological anchor is clear: the dragon's defeat is grounded in "the blood of the Lamb" (v. 11), which links the casting-down to Christ's cross. The four-fold identification in v. 9 is not theological speculation but apocalyptic exegesis: John is deliberately collapsing the Old Testament adversary figures into one. The "old serpent" (Greek ho ophis ho archaios) is a direct allusion to Genesis 3, naming the Eden tempter as the dragon. The "devil" (ho diabolos) is the Greek translation of the Hebrew satan, the "adversary," and John gives both: the Greek title and its Semitic source. The "deceiver of the whole world" is the defining present-tense activity carried through the rest of Revelation (cf. Rev 20:3, 20:8).

Three apologetic payloads ride on this verse. First, it is the text that justifies a unified biblical doctrine of Satan, refuting the modernist claim that "Satan" is a late development unrelated to the Eden serpent. The biblical canon itself, in its closing book, identifies them as one. Second, the verse anchors the deceptive nature of evil. Satan is not merely an opponent or a chaos-monster but a deceiver; the appropriate Christian response to evil includes truth-telling and discernment. Third, the verse places Satan's defeat at the cross-resurrection horizon. The voice in v. 10 cries that "now is come" the salvation and the kingdom, because the accuser has been thrown down by "the blood of the Lamb." This grounds the New Testament view that Christians live between Satan's decisive defeat (D-Day) and his final destruction (V-Day).

The chapter as a whole rewards reading with John 12:31 ("now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out"), Luke 10:18 ("I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven"), and Genesis 3:15 (the protoevangelium of seed-crushing). Revelation 12:9 is the canonical hinge that holds those texts together.

Key words

G1228 - diabolos, diabolos (Strong's G1228), slanderer / devil; the Greek title here.
G4567 - satanas, satanas (Strong's G4567), adversary / Satan; the Hebrew loanword John pairs with diabolos.
H7854 - satan, satan (Strong's H7854), the underlying Hebrew adversary-term inherited from the OT canon.

Theological themes

Unified Satan-narrative. The verse identifies the Eden serpent, the OT satan, the NT devil, and the apocalyptic dragon as one.
Deception as defining activity. Satan's signature is leading-astray of the oikoumene, the whole world.
Accuser cast down. v. 10 supplies the legal-courtroom role: Satan accuses; the Lamb's blood disarms.
Spiritual warfare. Michael's angels fight; the church's victory follows the cross, not its own arms.
Now-but-not-yet. Satan is decisively defeated yet still active; the final binding awaits Rev 20.

Cross-references

Genesis 3.15, the protoevangelium that names the serpent-seed enmity Revelation 12:9 fulfills.
Genesis 3.1, the Eden serpent the "ancient serpent" recalls.
John 8.44, Jesus' identification of the devil as the "father of lies" and a murderer from the beginning.
Genesis 19, a separate but Satan-adjacent narrative of judgment on cosmic-scale evil.
Hebrews 1.8, the Son's eternal kingdom that Revelation 12:10 echoes.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.