Revelation 12:4 (YLT)

Passage

and his tail doth draw the third of the stars of the heaven, and he did cast them to the earth; and the dragon did stand before the woman who is about to bring forth, that when she may bring forth, her child he may devour;

Nearby Context

Revelation 12:2 and being with child she doth cry out, travailing and pained to bring forth.

Revelation 12:3 And there was seen another sign in the heaven, and, lo, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his head seven diadems,

Revelation 12:4 and his tail doth draw the third of the stars of the heaven, and he did cast them to the earth; and the dragon did stand before the woman who is about to bring forth, that when she may bring forth, her child he may devour;

Revelation 12:5 and she brought forth a male child, who is about to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and caught away was her child unto God and His throne,

Revelation 12:6 and the woman did flee to the wilderness, where she hath a place made ready from God, that there they may nourish her--days a thousand, two hundred, sixty.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And there was seen another sign in..." into verse 5's "and she brought forth a male child...", so "tail" and "doth" 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 "doth" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.