And there appeared another sign in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Read Chapter 12
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Another wonder in heaven; that is, in the Church of Christ, though revealed to St. John, in the visions, as if they were seen in heaven.
A great red dragon; a fiery dragon, with seven heads and ten horns; i.e. many heads and many horns. By the dragon is generally understood the devil, (see ver. 7 and 9) and by the heads and horns, kings and princes, who act under him, persecuting the servants of God. (Witham)
Dragon the devil; and by the seven heads and ten horns, are meant those princes and governors who persecute the Church of Christ. (Calmet)
Now, that he says that this dragon was of a red colour— that is, of a purple colour— the result of his work gave him such a colour. For from the beginning (as the Lord says) he was a murderer; and he has oppressed the whole of the human race, not so much by the obligation of death, as, moreover, by the various forms of destruction and fatal mischiefs. His seven heads were the seven kings of the Romans, of whom also is Antichrist, as we have said above.
And ten horns. He says that the ten kings in the latest times are the same as these, as we shall more fully set forth there.
