1
“The Revelation of Jesus the Messiah”
1 The revelation of Jesus the Messiah, which God gave him to show his servants events that are appointed to unfold very quickly;+ he made this revelation known using signs and symbols, sending it by his angel to his servant John,
2 who has given a faithful account of this message from God and this solemn warning from Jesus the Messiah, that is, of as many things as he saw.
3 Blessed is the one who performs the public reading of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear its words and obey the things written within it, because the appointed time is near.
“To: The Seven Assemblies in the Province of Asia”
4 From: John.
To: The seven assemblies in the province of Asia.
To all of ᵖyou grace, and peace, from the I AM who is and who was and who is to come, and from the sevenfold Spirit
+ before his throne,
5 and from Jesus the Messiah—the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood6 and appointed us as a kingdom, as priests before our God and Father—to him be the glory and the supremacy forever into the ages of the ages. Amen.
7 Listen! He is “coming with the clouds,”+
and every eye will see him,
especially those who pierced him;+
will wail because of him.+
Yes. Amen, it is true!
8 “I AM the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
“Do Not Be Afraid! I AM the First and the Last”
9 I, John, ᵖyour brother who shares with you in the suffering and coming Kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in union with Jesus, had been exiled to the island called Patmos for proclaiming the word of God and the message about Jesus.
10 I came under the power of the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a booming voice, as loud as a trumpet blast.
11 “Write down on a scroll what ˢyou are about to see,” the voice said, “and send it to the seven assemblies—to Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see who was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands,
13 and in the center of the lampstands one “like a son of man,”+ dressed in a long robe reaching down to his feet, with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a fiery flame.
15 His feet resembled a fine metal made glowing-hot in a furnace, and his voice was loud and powerful, like the roar of rushing waters.
16 He held in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was shining like the sun in its full strength at midday.
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid! I AM the First and the Last
18 and the Living One. I died, but look—now I am alive, forever into the ages of the ages, and I hold the keys of Death and Sheol.
19 Therefore, write down the things you have just seen, and the things that are happening at present, and the things that are destined to take place in the future.
20 As for the mystery concerning the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands, here is what the seven stars represent: Messengers+ to the seven assemblies. The seven lampstands, meanwhile, stand for these: The seven assemblies themselves.