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Introduction and Benediction
1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, ⚓which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And ⚓He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
2⚓who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things ⚓that he saw.
3⚓Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for ⚓the time is near.
Greeting the Seven Churches
4John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him ⚓who is and ⚓who was and who is to come, ⚓and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
5and from Jesus Christ, ⚓the faithful ⚓witness, the ⚓firstborn from the dead, and ⚓the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him ⚓who loved us ⚓and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
6and has ⚓made us kings and priests to His God and Father, ⚓to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7Behold, He is coming with ⚓clouds, and every eye will see Him, even ⚓they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
8⚓“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, ⚓“who is and who was and who is to come, the ⚓Almighty.”
Vision of the Son of Man
9I, John, both your brother and ⚓companion in the tribulation and ⚓kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10⚓I was in the Spirit on ⚓the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me ⚓a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
11saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned ⚓I saw seven golden lampstands,
13⚓and in the midst of the seven lampstands ⚓One like the Son of Man, ⚓clothed with a garment down to the feet and ⚓girded about the chest with a golden band.
14His head and ⚓hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and ⚓His eyes like a flame of fire;
15⚓His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and ⚓His voice as the sound of many waters;
16⚓He had in His right hand seven stars, ⚓out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, ⚓and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
17And ⚓when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But ⚓He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; ⚓I am the First and the Last.
18⚓I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, ⚓I am alive forevermore. Amen. And ⚓I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
19Write the things which you have ⚓seen, ⚓and the things which are, ⚓and the things which will take place after this.
20The 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 which you saw are the seven churches.