When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. But he laid his right hand upon me, and said, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,

But I hold it against you that you do not love as you did at first.

But it is in your favor that you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, as I do.

I know of your distress and poverty??hough you are rich!?? know how you are slandered by those who claim to be Jews when they are not so, but only a synagogue of Satan!

Do not be afraid of what you are going to suffer. See! The devil is going to put some of you into prison to be tested there, and for ten days to endure persecution. Prove faithful even unto death and I will give you the crown of life.

I know where you live; where Satan has his throne! Yet you cling to my name and did not renounce your faith in me even in the days when my faithful Antipas, my witness, was put to death among you??here Satan lives.

But I hold it against you that you tolerate that Jezebel of a woman who claims to be inspired and who is misleading my slaves and teaching them to practice immorality and to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols.

I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality.

See! I am going to lay her on a sick bed, and to bring great distress upon those who share her immorality, unless they repent of her practices,

But to the rest of you at Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching and have not learned the "deep things" of Satan, as they call them??o you I say, I have no fresh burden to lay on you,

but keep hold of what you have, until I come.

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: " 'He who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars speaks thus: I know what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but you are dead.

He who is victorious will be clothed thus, in white clothing, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, but I will acknowledge him as mine in the presence of my Father and his angels.

I know what you are doing. See! I have put before you an open door that no one can close. I know that you have little strength, but you have obeyed my message and you have not disowned my name.

I will make some who belong to that synagogue of Satan and claim to be Jews when they are not so, but are lying?? will make them come and bow down at your feet, and learn that I loved you.

I advise you to buy of me gold that has been tested with fire, so that you may be rich, and white clothes to put on, to keep your shameful nakedness from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, to make you see.

But no one in heaven or on earth or underneath the earth could open the roll or look into it.

But one of the elders said to me, "Do not cry! See! The lion who is of the tribe of Judah, of the line of David, has been victorious so that he can open the roll and break its seals."

Then they sang a new song: "You deserve to take the roll and open its seals, for you have been slaughtered, and with your blood have bought for God men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation,

and I heard a voice which seemed to come from the midst of the four animals say, "Wheat at a dollar a quart, and barley three quarts for a dollar, but you must not injure the oil and wine!"

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen on the earth from the sky. He was given the key to the pit of the abyss,

and he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke like the smoke of a great furnace poured up out of the pit, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

Out of the smoke locusts descended upon the earth, but with powers like those of earthly scorpions.

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only the men who did not have the mark of God's seal upon their foreheads.

They were not allowed to kill anyone, but only to torture them for five months, and the torture they inflicted was like that caused by a scorpion when it stings a man.

In those days men will seek death and never find it. They will want to die, but death will fly from them.

They had over them as king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he is called Apollyon.

When the seven thunders had spoken I was going to write it down, but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said! Do not write it down!"

but at the time when the seventh angel spoke, when he should blow his trumpet, then God's mysterious purpose, the good news of which he gave to his slaves the prophets, would be accomplished.

So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey."

So I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it, and it did taste as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it, it made my stomach bitter.

but leave out the court outside the temple; do not measure that, for it has been given up to the heathen, and for forty-two months they will trample on it.

The heathen were enraged, but now your anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your slaves the prophets and your people high and low who revere your name, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth!"

but they were defeated, and there was no place for them any longer in heaven.

Therefore, rejoice, you heavens and you who live in them! But alas for the earth and the sea, for the devil has descended upon you in a great rage, for he knows that he has only a short time left."

But the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to her place in the desert, where she is to be taken care of for a time, times, and a half-time, on account of the serpent.

But the earth helped the woman, for the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured out of his mouth.

One of its heads seemed to have received a mortal wound, but its mortal wound had been healed. And the whole earth followed the animal in wonder,

Then I saw another animal come up out of the land. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

A third angel followed them, saying in a loud voice, "Whoever worships the animal and its statue and lets its mark be put on his forehead or on his hand

and they were dreadfully scorched, but they reviled the name of God who had control of these plagues, and would not repent and give him glory.

and reviled the God of heaven for their sufferings and sores, but they would not repent of what they had done.

(See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who keeps awake, and keeps hold of his clothes, so that he will not have to go naked and be put to shame!)

but the angel said to me, "Why are you amazed? I will explain to you what the woman and the animal with seven heads and ten horns that carries her symbolize.

The animal that you saw was, and is no more; it is going to come up out of the abyss, but it is to go to destruction. The inhabitants of the earth, whose names from the foundation of the world have not been written in the book of life, will be amazed when they see that the animal was, and is no more, and yet is to come.

The ten horns that you saw are also ten kings, who have not yet begun to reign, but for a single hour they receive authority as kings along with the animal.

For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by having a common purpose and giving up their authority to the animal until God's decrees are carried out.

I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that. I am only a fellow-slave of yours and of your brothers who have accepted the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is what inspires prophecy."

His eyes blazed like fire. There were many diadems on his head, and there was a name written on him which no one knew but himself.

And the animal was captured and with it the false prophet who performed wonders on its behalf by means of which he led astray those who had let the animal's mark be put on them and who worshiped its statue. Both of them were flung alive into the fiery lake of burning brimstone.

Then I saw thrones with beings seated on them, who were empowered to act as judges. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus and the message of God, who refused to worship the animal and its statue, and would not have its mark put on their foreheads or on their hands. They were restored to life and reigned with the Christ a thousand years.

But the cowardly, unfaithful, and polluted??urderers, immoral people, those who practice magic or idolatry, and all liars will find themselves in the burning lake of fire and brimstone. This is the second death."

The material of the wall was jasper, but the city was pure gold, as transparent as glass.

Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who indulges in abominable practices and falsehoods, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

But he said to me, "You must not do that. I am only a fellow-slave of yours and of your brothers the prophets and the men who heed the words of this book. Worship God!