Apocalypse 12:15
And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman, water as it were a river; that he might cause her to be carried away by the river.
Open Apocalypse 12:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et misit serpens ex ore suo post mulierem, aquam tamquam flumen, ut eam faceret trahi a flumine.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- καὶ ἔβαλεν ὁ ὄφις ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ὀπίσω τῆς γυναικὸς ὕδωρ ὡς ποταμόν, ἵνα αὐτὴν ποταμοφόρητον ποιήσῃ.
Haydock's commentary
The serpent (the dragon, the devil) came out of his mouth, &c. He endeavoured to destroy the Christian religion; but the earth, that is, the princes of the earth, as God was pleased to turn their hearts, helped to turn away the persecutions. (Witham)
As a last effort, the devil raises a more bloody persecution than was ever known before. See Eusebius, History of the Church.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Victorinus of Pettau Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, From the twelfth chapter
15. “And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a flood, that he might carry her away with the flood.”] He signifies by the water which the serpent cast out of his mouth, the people who at his command would persecute her.