Revelation 1

¹The unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known through signs, sending it through his angel to his servant John, ²who testified to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ—all that he saw.

³Blessed is the one who reads aloud and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, for the appointed time is near.

⁴John, to the seven assemblies in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the One Who Is and Who Was and Who Is Coming, and from the seven spirits 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 loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood— ⁶and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion into the ages of 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 beat their chests in mourning over 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 All-Powerful.

⁹I, John, your brother and fellow-participant in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus—I found myself on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰I came to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice like a trumpet ¹¹saying, "What you see, write in a scroll and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."

¹²And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to his feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴His head and his hair were white as white wool, as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵His feet were like fine bronze, as though 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 double-edged 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. And he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the living one—I was dead, and look, I am alive into the ages of ages—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades. ¹⁹Write, then, what you have seen, both what is now and what is about to take place after this. 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 assemblies, and the seven lampstands are the seven assemblies."