Greeting to the Seven Churches

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from ihim jwho is and kwho was and who is to come, and from lthe seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ mthe faithful witness, nthe firstborn of the dead, and othe ruler of kings on earth.

To phim who loves us and qhas freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us ra kingdom, rpriests to shis God and Father, to him be tglory and udominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, vhe is coming with the clouds, and wevery eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail3 on account of him. Even so. Amen.

8 x“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, y“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Vision of the Son of Man

9 I, John, your brother and zpartner in athe tribulation and bthe kingdom and cthe patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos don account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 eI was in the Spirit fon the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice glike a trumpet 11 saying, h“Write what you see in a book 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 to me, and on turning I saw iseven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands jone like ka son of man, lclothed with a long robe and mwith a golden sash around his chest. 14 nThe hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. oHis eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 phis feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and qhis voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 rIn his right hand he held seven stars, sfrom his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and this face was like the sun shining uin full strength.

17 vWhen I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But vhe laid his right hand on me, wsaying, “Fear not, xI am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. yI died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and zI have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 aWrite therefore bthe things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and cthe seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and dthe seven lampstands are the seven churches.