This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God has allowed him to make known to his servants, of things which must soon find their due accomplishment. And he has sent his angel to disclose the pattern of it to his servant John,

one who bore witness for God’s word, and for the truth concerning Jesus Christ, as his own eyes had seen it.✻

A blessing on him who reads this, and on all who listen to these words of prophecy, and keep true to their message; the time is close at hand.

Thus John writes to the seven churches in Asia, Grace and peace be yours, from him who is, and ever was, and is still to come, and from the seven spirits that stand before his throne;

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, first-born of the risen dead, who rules over all earthly kings. He has proved his love for us, by washing us clean from our sins in his own blood,

and made us a royal race of priests, to serve God, his Father; glory and power be his through endless ages, Amen.

Behold, he comes with clouds about him, seen by every eye, seen by those who wounded him,✻ and he shall bring lamentation to all the tribes of earth. So it must be, Amen.

I am Alpha, I am Omega, the beginning of all things and their end, says the Lord God; he who is, and ever was, and is still to come, the Almighty.

I, John, your brother, who share your ill-usage, your royal dignity, and your endurance in Christ Jesus, was set down on the island called Patmos, for love of God’s word and of the truth concerning Jesus.

And there, on the Lord’s day, I fell into a trance, and heard behind me a voice, loud as the call of a trumpet,

which said, Write down all thou seest in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia, to Ephesus, and Smyrna, and Pergamum, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

So I turned, to see what voice it was that was speaking to me. And as I turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks,

and in the midst of these seven golden candlesticks one who seemed like a son of man, clothed in a long garment, with a golden girdle about his breast.

The hair on his head was like wool snow-white, and his eyes like flaming fire,

his feet like orichalc melted in the crucible, and his voice like the sound of water in deep flood.✻

In his right hand were seven stars; from his mouth came a sword sharpened at both its edges; and his face was like the sun when it shines at its full strength.

At the sight of him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man; and he, laying his right hand on me, spoke thus: Do not be afraid; I am before all, I am at the end of all,✻

and I live. I, who underwent death, am alive, as thou seest, to endless ages, and I hold the keys of death and hell.

Write down thy vision of what now is, and what must befall hereafter.

As for the meaning of the seven stars which thou hast seen in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels✻ of the seven churches thou knowest, and the candlesticks, seven in number, are the seven churches.