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1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his slaves the things which must take place in a short time, and communicated it by sending it through his angel to his slave John,[#*Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“sending”) which is understood as means]
2who testified about the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all that he saw.
3Blessed is the one who reads aloud and blessed are those who hear the words of the prophecy and observe the things written in it, because the time is near![#*The phrase “blessed are” is an understood repetition from the beginning of the verse]
4John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,[#A reference to the Roman province of Asia (modern Asia Minor)]
5and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To the one who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood
6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.[#Literally “for the ages of the ages”]
7Behold, he is coming with the clouds,
even every one who pierced him,
Yes, amen.
8I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, the All-Powerful.
9I, John, your brother and co-sharer in the affliction and kingdom and steadfastness in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.
10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great sound like a trumpet
11saying, “What you see, write 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.”
12And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands,[#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“turned”) which is understood as temporal]
13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded around his chest with a golden belt,[#*Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun]
14and his head and hair were white like wool, white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame,
15and his feet were like fine bronze when it has been fired in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters,
16and he had in his right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword coming out of his mouth, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength.
17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,
18and the one who lives, and I was dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades.[#Literally “for the ages of the ages”]
19Therefore, write the things which you saw, and the things which are, and the things which are about to take place after these things.
20As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands—the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.