1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show his servants the things which must happen soon. He sent it and made it known by his angel to his servant John,
2who told what he saw: the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and all the things that he saw.
3Blessed is the one who reads, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things written in it. For the time is near.
4John, to the seven churches in Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne,
5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6and has made us kings and priests to God, his Father: to him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
7Look, he is coming with clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the families of the earth will weep loudly because of him. Even so, Amen.
8"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," says the Lord, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
9I, John, am your brother, and I share with you in trouble, and in the kingdom and patient waiting of Jesus Christ. I was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet,
11saying, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."
12I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. When I had turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,
13and in the middle of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man. He was wearing a robe down to his feet, with a golden band around his chest.
14His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire.
15His feet were like fine brass, as if they glowed in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.
16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he laid his right hand on me and said to me, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last."
18"I am he who lives. I was dead, and look, I am alive for evermore, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death."
19"Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen after this."
20"This is the secret of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches."