[0] I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face. [ (III
John 1:15) Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, every
one of them. ] [1] The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to
show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by
sending his angel to his servant John, [2] who bore witness to the word of
God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. [3]
Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are
those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near.
[4] John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace
from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits
who are before his throne, [5] and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness,
the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who
loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood [6] and made us a
kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for
ever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every
eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth
will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. [8] "I am the Alpha and the
Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the
Almighty. [9] I John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the
tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island
called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
[10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud
voice like a trumpet [11] saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it
to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Per'gamum and to
Thyati'ra and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to La-odice'a." [12] Then I
turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven
golden lampstands, [13] and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son
of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast;
[14] his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his
eyes were like a flame of fire, [15] his feet were like burnished bronze,
refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters;
[16] in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp
two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
[17] When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his
right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, [18]
and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have
the keys of Death and Hades. [19] Now write what you see, what is and what
is to take place hereafter. [20] As for the mystery of the seven stars
which you saw in 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.
