Revelation 1

¹ A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him so that he could tel his servants what is now to takeplace very soon; he sent his angel to make it known to his servant John,

² and John has borne witness to the Word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, everything that hesaw.

³ Blessed is anyone who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed those who hear them, if theytreasure the content, because the Time is near.

⁴ John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is tocome, from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the highest of earthly kings. Heloves us and has washed away our sins with his blood,

⁶ and made us a Kingdom of Priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

⁷ Look, he is coming on the clouds; everyone wil see him, even those who pierced him, and all the racesof the earth wil mourn over him. Indeed this shall be so. Amen.

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

⁹ I, John, your brother and partner in hardships, in the kingdom and in perseverance in Jesus, was on theisland of Patmos on account of the Word of God and of witness to Jesus;

¹⁰ it was the Lord's Day and I was in ecstasy, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like the sound of atrumpet, saying,

¹¹ 'Write down in a book al that you see, and send it to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna,Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.'

¹² I turned round to see who was speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands

¹³ and, in the middle of them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt ofgold.

¹⁴ His head and his hair were white with the whiteness of wool, like snow, his eyes like a burning flame,

¹⁵ his feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of theocean.

¹⁶ In his right hand he was holding seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged, andhis face was like the sun shining with all its force.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, 'Do not beafraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One,

¹⁸ I was dead and look -- I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades.

¹⁹ Now write down al that you see of present happenings and what is stil to come.

²⁰ The secret of the seven stars you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp-stands, isthis: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churchesthemselves.'