Prologue
Chapter 1
The Revelation or Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. 1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God entrusted to him so that he might show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who has borne witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ by reporting everything that he has seen.
3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who keep what is written in it, for the appointed time is near.
He Is, He Was, and He Will Return. 4 John, to the seven Churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood 6 and made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will mourn him.
So shall it be. Amen.
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.”
“I Am the First and the Last.” 9 I, John—your brother and partner in the suffering and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are ours in Jesus—was on the island of Patmos because I had proclaimed the word of God and given testimony to Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s day, I was caught up in the spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like the sound of a trumpet, 11 that said, “Write down on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven Churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that had spoken to me, and when I turned I beheld seven gold lampstands. 13 And in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, dressed in a robe that reached down to his feet and with a golden breastplate around his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white with the whiteness of wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a burning flame. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth there protruded a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face shone like the sun in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One. 18 I was dead, but now I am alive forevermore, and I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
19 “Now write down what you have seen, what is happening now, and what will take place afterward. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven Churches themselves.
Footnotes
- Revelation 1:1
- Revelation 1:3
- Revelation 1:4
- Revelation 1:4
- Revelation 1:5
- Revelation 1:6
- Revelation 1:9
- Revelation 1:9
- Revelation 1:10
- Revelation 1:11
- Revelation 1:13
- Revelation 1:13
