Revelation 1:1–8

Introduction and Salutation

¹The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place, and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,^{* 2}who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.^*

³Blessed is the one who reads the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

⁴John to the seven churches that 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,^{* 5}and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed^a us from our sins by his blood ⁶and made us a kingdom, priests serving^b his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.^*

⁷Look! He is coming with the clouds;

every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him,

and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.

So it is to be. Amen.^*

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