1:7 (Look! He is returning with the clouds, 1
and every eye will see him,
even 2 those who pierced him, 3
and all the tribes 4 on the earth will mourn because 5 of him.
This will certainly come to pass! 6 Amen.) 7
1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” 8 says the Lord God – the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come – the All-Powerful! 9
1:9 I, John, your brother and the one who shares 10 with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that 11 are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. 12 1:10 I was in the Spirit 13 on the Lord’s Day 14 when 15 I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 1:11 saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, 16 Smyrna, 17 Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
1:12 I 18 turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, 19 and when I did so, 20 I saw seven golden lampstands, 1:13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. 21 He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt 22 around his chest. 1:14 His 23 head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, 24 and his eyes were like a fiery 25 flame. 1:15 His feet were like polished bronze 26 refined 27 in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar 28 of many waters. 1:16 He held 29 seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His 30 face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 1:17 When 31 I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but 32 he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 1:18 and the one who lives! I 33 was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! 34 1:19 Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things. 35 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: 36 The seven stars are the angels 37 of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.