Revelation 12:4 (LSB)

Passage

And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Nearby Context

Revelation 12:2 And she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Revelation 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

Revelation 12:4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Revelation 12:5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Revelation 12:6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "tail", "swept", "away", "third", "stars", "heaven", "threw", and "earth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "tail" and "swept", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Then another sign appeared in heaven and..." into verse 5's "And she gave birth to a son...", so "tail" and "swept" belong inside that flow. In Revelation context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "tail" and "swept" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.