1This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things which must happen soon. He sent it and made it known by his angel2422 to his bondservant, John, 2who testified about everything that he saw: to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
3Blessed is the one who reads the words of the prophecy and [blessed are] those who hear and observe2423 the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand!
Letter to the Seven Churches
4John, to the seven Churches that are in Asia [Minor]: May grace and peace be with you from God,2424 [the one] who is2425 and who was and who is to come; and from the seven spirits2426 who 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 to be a kingdom, priests2427 to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion unto the ages. Amen.
7Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. It shall be so! Amen!
8”I am the Alpha and the Omega2428,2429“ says the Lord God,2430 “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”2431
In the Spirit on the Lord’s day—The vision of the son of man
9I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, and [in the] Kingdom, and [in] perseverance in Christ Jesus,2432 was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.2433 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day2434 and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet 11saying, “2435What you see, write [it] in a book and send [it] to the seven Churches;2436 to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12I turned around to see the voice that had spoken to me. Having done so, I saw seven golden lampstands,2437 13and among the seven2438 lampstands was someone like a son of man,2439 clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash2440 around his chest. 14His head and his hair were as white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15His feet were like fine brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. 16He had seven stars in his right hand and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. 17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.
He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive unto the ages of ages!2441 I have the keys of death and of hades. 19Therefore, write the things which you have seen, the things which are now, and the things which will happen in the future. 20Write about the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels2442 of the seven Churches and the seven lampstands are seven Churches.
To Ephesus
- Or “messenger” (here and wherever angel is mentioned)
- Or “keep”
- CT and TR read “from the one” instead of “from God”
- In Greek o` w’n which can also mean “the Existing One” (God’s name in Exodus 3:14) and which is placed in the halo in all the icons of Christ.
- Sometimes capitalized as “Spirits”
- TR reads “kings and priests”—Exodus 19:6; Isaias (Isaiah) 61:6
- Greek .Egw, ei.mi to. A kai. to. W
- TR adds “the Beginning and the End”
- TR omits “God”
- Greek o` pantokra,twr
- CT omits “Christ”
- CT omits “Christ”
- Almost certainly a reference to Sunday
- TR adds “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last”
- TR adds “which are in Asia”
- Unlike the second Temple, the first Temple had multiple candlestands or menorahs in the Holy place.
- CT omits “seven”
- Daniel 7:13
- Or “belt/girdle”—a sign of his priestly or high-priestly office
- Greek eivj tou.j aivw/naj tw/n aivw,nwn. Some manuscripts add “amen” after this
- Or “messengers/deacons/heavenly counterparts” (here and wherever angels are mentioned)
Text: The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible, New Testament (EOB). Used with permission.
