1The Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his bondmen what must happen quickly. And he signified it, having sent by his agent to his bondman John 2who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as many things as he saw. 3Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and who keep the things written in it, for the time is near. 4John, to the seven congregations in Asia: Grace to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne, 5and 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 washed us from our sins by his blood 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him is the glory and the dominion into the ages of the ages. Truly. 7Behold, he comes with the clouds and every eye will see him, even the men who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will wail against him. Yea, Truly. 8I am the Alpha and the Omega, says Lord, the God who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty. 9I John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Christ Jesus, happened to be on the isle that is called Patmos because of the word of God, and because of the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10I became in spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a great voice like a trumpet 11saying, What thou see, write in a book and send to the seven congregations: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. 12And I turned there to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands. 13And in the midst of the seven lampstands, resembling a son of man, he who was clothed down to the foot, and girded about with a golden belt at the breasts. 14And his head and hair were white as wool, white as snow, and his eyes as a flame of fire, 15and his feet resembling highly refined metal, as in a furnace having been fiery hot, and his voice as the sound of many waters, 16and having in his right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. And the sight of him was as the sun shines in its strength. 17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and he who lives. And I became dead, and behold, I am living into the ages of the ages. Truly. And I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19Therefore write the things that thou saw, and things that are, and things that are going to happen after these things. 20The mystery of the seven stars that thou saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are agents of the seven congregations, and the seven lampstands that thou saw are the seven congregations.