Revelation 1

¹The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his slaves the things that must happen without delay. He made this known by sending it through signs by his angel to his slave John, ²who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ—to everything that he saw. ³Macarian is the one who reads aloud, and macarian 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 to you and peace from "The One Who Is and Who Was and Who Is Coming," and from the seven spirits who are 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 him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood— ⁶and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power into the ages of the ages. Amen.

⁷Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even 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," says the Lord God, "the One Who Is and Who Was and Who Is Coming, the Ruler of All."

⁹I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because 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 a trumpet ¹¹saying: "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

¹²Then 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 was one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴His head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵His feet were like burnished bronze, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-mouthed sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its full power.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, ¹⁸and the Living One. I became dead, and look—I am living into the ages of the ages, and I hold the keys of Death and of Hades. ¹⁹Therefore, write what you saw: both the things that are and the things that are about to happen after these. ²⁰As for the mystery of the seven stars that 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."