Prologue
Revelation 1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his slaves the things which must happen soon. Hᴇ made it known by sending his angel to his slave John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ about everything he saw.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep the things written in it, because the time is near.
Message to the Seven Churches
John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to y’all from God, who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who in the presence of his throne; and 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 has released us from our sins by his blood— and he made us an empire, priests for his God and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes, Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
John’s Vision from Patmos
I John, y’all’s sibling and partner in the tribulation, the empire, and the perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and behind me I heard a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “What you see, write on a scroll and send to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And among the lampstands was one like a Son of Humanity clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet and a golden belt around his chest. His head and his hair were as white as wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a fiery flame. His feet were like burnished bronze glowing from a furnace, and his voice was like the voice of many waters. He held seven stars in his right hand, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining with its power. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though I were dead.
He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look! I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
Therefore, you must write the things that you have seen, what is, and what will come. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.