Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything he saw. 3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
Greeting to the Seven Churches
4John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father — to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 7Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes. Amen. 8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”
One like a Son of Man
9I, John, your brother, who share with you in the tribulation, the kingdom, and the patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11saying, “Write on a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” 12I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching to his feet, with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. 15His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I was dead, and look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades. 19Write, then, what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place after this: 20the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
