Prologue

1THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, that he might show to his servants the things that must shortly come to pass; and he sent it by his angel, and made it known to his servant John, 2who bore testimony to the word of God, and recorded the testimony of Jesus Christ, what ever things he saw. 3Blessed is he that reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it; for the time is at hand.

John Greets the Seven Churches

4John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace be to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne; 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loves us, and that has washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6and has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be glory and might from age to age. Amen. 7Behold, he comes with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and those also who pierced him: and all the tribes of the land shall lament because of him. Even so. Amen.

8I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

John’s Vision on Patmos

9I John, your brother and companion in the affliction, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the island called Patmos, on account of the word of God, and on account of the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10I was in spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice like that of a trumpet, 11saying: What you see, write in a book, and send to the seven churches; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

12And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me: and having turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, 13and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like the Son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to his feet, and girded about the breast with a golden girdle. 14His head and his hair were white as white wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15and his feet were like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace: and his voice was like the voice of many waters. 16And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword: arid his face was as the sun when it shines in its strength.

17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not, I am the First and the Last, 18and I am he that lives; and I was dead, and be hold, I am alive from age to age: and I have the keys of hades and of death. 19Write, therefore, the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and those which shall be here after; 20the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candle sticks are the seven churches.