Prologue

(Daniel 12:1-13)

1The revelation given by Jesus Christ, which God granted Him, that He might make known to His servants certain events which must shortly come to pass: and He sent His angel and communicated it to His servant John. 2This is the John who taught the truth concerning the Word of God and the truth told us by Jesus Christ— a faithful account of what he had seen. 3Blessed is he who reads and blessed are those who listen to the words of this prophecy and lay to heart what is written in it; for the time for its fulfillment is now close at hand.

John Greets the Seven Churches

4John sends greetings to the seven Churches in the province of Asia. May grace be granted to you, and peace, from Him who is and was and evermore will be; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; 5and from Jesus Christ, the truthful witness, the first of the dead to be born to Life, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins with His own blood, 6and has formed us into a Kingdom, to be priests to God, His Father—to Him be ascribed the glory and the power until the Ages of the Ages. Amen. 7He is coming in the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and so will those who pierced Him; and all the nations of the earth will gaze on Him and mourn. Even so. Amen.

8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "He who is and was and evermore will be—the Ruler of all."

John's Vision on Patmos

9I John, your brother, and a sharer with you in the sorrows and Kingship and patient endurance of Jesus, found myself in the island of Patmos, on account of the Word of God and the truth told us by Jesus. 10In the Spirit I found myself present on the day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice which resembled the blast of a trumpet. 11It said, "Write forthwith in a roll an account of what you see, and send it to the seven Churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyateira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."

12I turned to see who it was that was speaking to me; and then I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the center of the lampstands some One resembling the Son of Man, clothed in a robe which reached to His feet, and with a girdle of gold across His breast. 14His head and His hair were white, like white wool—as white as snow; and His eyes resembled a flame of fire. 15His feet were like silver-bronze, when it is white-hot in a furnace; and His voice resembled the sound of many waters. 16In His right hand He held seven stars, and a sharp, two-edged sword was seen coming from His mouth; and His glance resembled the sun when it is shining with its full strength.

17When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand upon me and said, "Do not be afraid: I am the First and the Last, and the ever-living One. 18I died; but I am now alive until the Ages of the Ages, and I have the keys of the gates of Death and of Hades! 19Write down therefore the things you have just seen, and those which are now taking place, and those which are soon to follow: 20the secret meaning of the seven stars which you have seen in My right hand, and of the seven lampstands of gold. The seven stars are the ministers of the seven Churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven Churches.