11 The Revelation of Jesus Christ , which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants , the things which must soon take place ; and He sent and [1]communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John , 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ , even to all that he saw .
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy , and [2]heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near .
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia : Grace to you and peace , from Him who is and who was and who [3]is to come , and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne , 5 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 released us from our sins [4]by His blood - 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom , priests to [5] His God and Father - to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever . Amen . 7 BEHOLD , 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 mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen . 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega ," says the Lord God , " who is and who was and who [6]is to come , the Almighty ."
9 I, John , your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and [7] perseverance which are in Jesus , was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus . 10 I was [8] in the Spirit on the Lord's day , and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet , 11 saying , " Write in a [9]book what you see , 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 ." 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands ; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like [10]a son of man , clothed in a robe reaching to the feet , and girded across His chest with a golden sash . 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool , like snow ; and His eyes were like a flame of fire . 15 His feet were like burnished bronze , when it has been made to glow in a furnace , and His voice was like the sound of many waters . 16 In His right hand He held seven stars , and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword ; and His face was like the sun [11]shining in its strength . 17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man . And He placed His right hand on me, saying , " Do not be afraid ; I am the first and the last , 18 and the living One; and I [12] was dead , and behold , I am alive forevermore , and I have the keys of death and of Hades . 19 "Therefore write the things which you have seen , and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things . 20 "As for the mystery of the seven stars which 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 .
