1This is the revelation from Jesus Christ. God gave it to him to show those who serve God what will happen soon. God made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.2John is a witness to everything he saw. What he saw is God’s word and what Jesus Christ has said.3Blessed is the one who reads out loud the words of this prophecy. Blessed are those who hear it and think everything it says is important. The time when these things will come true is near.
Greetings and praise to God
4I, John, am writing this letter. I am sending it to the seven churches in Asia Minor. May grace and peace come to you from God. He is the one who is, and who was, and who will come. May grace and peace come to you from the seven spirits. These spirits are in front of God’s throne.5May grace and peace come to you from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness, so what he has shown can be trusted. He was the first to rise from the dead. He rules over the kings of the earth. Glory and power belong to Jesus Christ who loves us! He has set us free from our sins by pouring out his blood for us.6He has made us members of his royal family. He has made us priests who serve his God and Father. Glory and power belong to Jesus Christ for ever and ever! Amen.7‘Look! He is coming with the clouds!’ ‘Every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him will see him.’ All the nations of the earth ‘will mourn because of him.’ This will really happen! Amen. (Da 7:13; Zec 12:10)8‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord God. ‘I am the God who is, and who was, and who will come. I am the Mighty One.’
John’s vision of Christ
9I, John, am a believer like you. I am a friend who suffers like you. As members of Jesus’ royal family, we can put up with anything that happens to us. I was on the island of Patmos because I taught God’s word and what Jesus said.10The Holy Spirit gave me a vision on the Lord’s Day. I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet.11The voice said, ‘Write on a scroll what you see. Send it to the seven churches in Asia Minor. They are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.’12I turned round to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.13In the middle of them was someone who looked ‘like a son of man.’ He was dressed in a long robe with a gold strip of cloth around his chest. (Da 7:13)14The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a blazing fire.15His feet were like bronze metal glowing in a furnace. His voice sounded like rushing waters.16He held seven stars in his right hand. Coming out of his mouth was a sharp sword with two edges. His face was like the sun shining in all its brightness.17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. Then he put his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.18I am the Living One. I was dead. But now look! I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys to Death and Hell.19‘So write down what you have seen. Write about what is happening now and what will happen later.20Here is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand. They are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven golden lampstands you saw stand for the seven churches.
Revelation 1
English Standard Version
Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants[1] the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, (Joh 8:26; Joh 14:10; Joh 17:7; Re 22:6; Re 22:16)2who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. (Joh 19:35; 1Co 1:6; Re 1:11; Re 1:19; Re 6:9; Re 12:17; Re 19:10)3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Lu 11:28; Joh 8:51; Ro 13:11; 1Jo 2:3; 1Jo 2:18; Re 22:7; Re 22:10)
9I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. (Joh 16:33; Php 4:14; 2Ti 2:12; Re 1:2; Re 3:10)10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet (1Ki 18:12; Eze 3:12; Mt 22:43; Ac 20:7; 1Co 16:2; 2Co 12:2; Re 4:1; Re 4:2; Re 17:3; Re 21:10)11saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Re 1:2; Re 1:19)12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, (Ex 25:37; 2Ch 4:20; Zec 4:2; Re 1:20; Re 2:1; Re 11:4)13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. (Da 7:13; Da 10:5; Da 10:16; Re 14:14; Re 15:6)14The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, (Da 7:9; Da 10:6; Re 2:18; Re 19:12)15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. (Eze 1:7; Eze 43:2; Da 10:6; Re 14:2; Re 19:6)16In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Jud 5:31; Isa 49:2; Mt 17:2; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; Re 1:20; Re 2:1; Re 2:12; Re 2:16; Re 3:1; Re 19:15)17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, (Isa 41:4; Isa 44:6; Isa 48:12; Da 8:17; Da 10:9; Da 10:15; Mt 17:7; Lu 24:37; Joh 21:12; Re 2:8; Re 22:13)18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Ro 6:9; Ro 14:9; Re 9:1; Re 20:1)19Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. (Re 1:2; Re 1:11; Re 1:12)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. (Mt 5:14; Re 1:12)