Revelation 1

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants what must happen soon. And he signified, sending through his angel to his servant John,

who attested the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as much as he saw.

Blessed {are} the one reading and the ones hearing the words of this prophecy and keeping the things having been written in it, for the time {is} near. \*

John, to the seven churches in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the one being and the one having been and the one coming and from the seven spirits who {are} before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ, “the faithful witness,” “the firstborn” from the dead and “the ruler of the kings of the earth.” To the one loving us and having released us from our sins by his blood

and he has made us a kingdom, priests to God and his Father—to him {be} the glory and the power to the ages. Amen. \* 7 “Behold, 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 because of him.” Yes, Amen.

“I am the alpha and the omega,” says the Lord God, “the one being and the one having been and the one coming, the Ruler of All.” \*

I, John, your brother and partner in the suffering and kingdom and endurance {that are} in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

saying, “Write what you see on a scroll and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” \*

And I turned around to see the voice that was speaking with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,

and in the middle of the lampstands {one} like a son of man, wearing a foot-length robe and a golden sash wrapped around {his} chest. \*

Now his head and hair {were} white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes {were} like a flame of fire,

and his feet {were} like bronze as having been refined in a furnace, and his voice {was} like the sound of many waters,

and having seven stars in his right hand and a sharp, double-edged sword coming out of his mouth, and his face as the sun shines in its strength. \*

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man, but he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last

and the one living; and I became dead, but behold, I am living to the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. \*

Therefore, write what you have seen, and what is, and what is about to happen after these things.

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. \*