Her appearance was glorious. She was “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Despite her regal appearance, her circumstances were dire. She was pregnant and cried out “in birth pangs, in the agony of birth.” (NRSV, Revelation 12:1–2) Most scholars say the woman represents the Jewish nation from which Jesus came, and the twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel.