Prologue
(Daniel 12:1-13)

1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants what things it behooves to take place in quickness. And He signified it through having sent His angel to His servant, John, 2who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, as much as he saw.

3Blessed is the one reading, and those hearing the words of the prophecy, and keeping the things having been written in it; for the time is near.

John Greets the Seven Churches

4John,

To the seven churches in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him being and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spiritsa before His throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To the One loving us and releasing us from our sins through His blood, 6and He has made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion to the ages of the ages. Amen.

7Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail because of Him. Yes! Amen!

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,”b says Lord God, the One being, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.

John's Vision on Patmos

9I John, your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Jesus, was in the island called Patmos on account 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 that of a trumpet, 11saying,c “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands, One like the Son of Man,d having been clothed to the feet, and having been girded about at the breasts with a golden sash. 14Now His head and His hairs are white like wool, white as snow; and His eyes are like a flame of fire; 15and His feet are like fine bronze, as having been refined in a furnace; and His voice is like the voice of many waters; 16and He is holding in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword is going forth out of His mouth; and His face is like the sun shining in its full strength.

17And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. And He placed His right hand upon me, saying, “Fear not. I am the First and the Last, 18and the Living One. And I was dead, and behold I am living to the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

19Therefore write the things that you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to take place after these, 20the mystery of the seven stars, which you saw on 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.