So write what you have seen, what is and what is to take place hereafter.

The open secret of the seven stars that you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands, is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

"I know what you have done; your hard work and patient endurance; that you cannot tolerate wicked persons; that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles although they were not, and have found them to be imposters,

You are showing patient endurance, and you have borne it for my sake, and have not grown weary.

So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent and do as you did at first, or else I will surely come and move your lampstand from its place -- if you do not repent.

But you have it to your credit that you hate what the Nicolaitans are doing, as I do too.

Do not be so afraid of what you are to suffer. See! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison to be tested there and for ten days to suffer pressing troubles. Each one of you must prove to be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life.

"I know where you live, where Satan has his throne. Yet you are clinging to my name and have never renounced your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful martyred witness, who was put to death among you, right where Satan lives,

Yet I hold it somewhat against you that you have among you some who are clinging to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the children of Israel, to entice them to eat the meat that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit immoral practices.

And you also have among you some who are clinging to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

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

and I will surely strike her children dead. So all the churches will know that I am He who searches men's inmost hearts, and that I will repay each of you for exactly what you have done.

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 speak of them -- to you I say, I have no extra burden to lay on you,

but keep your hold on what you have until I come.

he will govern them with a scepter of iron and shatter them like earthen jars -- just such authority as I have received from my Father --

"To the messenger of the church at Sardis write: 'The One who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars speaks as follows: "I know what you are doing; you have the reputation of being alive, but in reality you are dead.

Wake up, and strengthen what is left, although it is on the very point of dying, for I have not found a thing that you have done complete in the sight of God.

So remember what you have received and heard, and continue to obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know the hour when I come upon you.

Yet you have in Sardis a few who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white, for they deserve to do so.

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

I will make some, who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are lying -- I will make them come and fall at your feet and find out that I have loved you.

Because you have kept my message with the patient endurance that I give you, I also will keep you from the time of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test the inhabitants of the earth.

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one may take away your crown.

Because you say, 'I am rich, I have already become rich, I need nothing,' and you do not know that you are the very one that is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked;

I will give to him who conquers the privilege of taking his seat with me on my throne, just as I have conquered and taken my seat with my Father on His throne.

And the four living creatures have each of them six wings, and they are dotted with eyes all around and beneath the wings. And day and night they never cease saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come."

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to have ascribed to you the glory, honor, and power; for you created everything, And since you willed it so, they came into existence and were created."

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

and have made them a kingdom of priests for our God; and they will rule over the earth."

I answered him, "You know, my lord." He said to me: "These are the people who are coming through the great persecution, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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

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

They have the power to shut up the sky, so that no rain will fall upon the earth as long as they prophesy, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with any plague as often as they please.

Then, when they have finished testifying, the wild beast that is coming up out of the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

saying: "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and were, because you have assumed your great power and begun to reign.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "The salvation, power, and kingdom of our God, and the sovereignty of His Christ, have already come, because the accuser of our brothers, who always day and night accuses them before our God, has been hurled down.

But they have conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the message to which they bore testimony, because they did not cling to life but courted death.

I saw that one of his heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but its mortal wound had been healed. And the whole world was so amazed that they followed the wild beast,

All the inhabitants of the earth whose names, from the foundation of the world, have not been written in the slaughtered Lamb's book of life, will worship him.

Permission has also been given him to impart life to the statue of the wild beast so that it can speak, and to have all who do not worship the statue of the wild beast killed.

And he makes all, great and small, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, have a mark stamped on their right hands or on their foreheads,

These are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women, for they are as pure as virgins, These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been redeemed from among men as the first fruits for God and the Lamb,

and they have never been known to tell a lie with their lips; they are blameless.

himself will have to drink the wine of God's vengeance, poured unmixed into the cup of His wrath, and be tortured with fire and brimstone before the eyes of the holy angels and the Lamb.

The smoke of their torture will go up forever and ever, and they will have no rest day or night -- those who worship the wild beast and his statue, and anyone who bears the mark of his name."

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who from this time die as Christians.'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "let them rest from their toils, for the things they have done are going with them."

Because they have shed the blood of your people and prophets, you have given them blood to drink; they deserve it."

in whose prostitution the kings of the earth have joined, and with the wine of whose prostitution the inhabitants of the earth have been intoxicated."

The wild beast that you saw, once was but now is no more; he is going to come up out of the abyss, but he is going to be destroyed. The inhabitants of the earth, whose names from the foundation of the world have not been written in the book of life, will be astonished when they see that the wild beast once was but now is no more, and yet is to come.

There are also seven kings; five have fallen, one is on the throne, the other has not yet come, and when he does he must stay but a little while,

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet become kings, but for a single hour they accept authority as kings allied with the wild beast.

They have one common policy. They give their power and authority to the wild beast.

because all the nations have fallen by drinking the raging wine of her immorality; the kings of the earth have joined her in her immorality, and the businessmen of the earth have grown rich from the wealth of her luxury."

The kings of the earth who have joined her in her immorality and luxury will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

The ripe fruit of your soul's desire has gone from you, all your luxury and splendor have perished from your hands, and people will never find them again.

the light of the lamp will never shine in you again; the voice of bride and bridegroom will never be heard in you again. For your businessmen were the great men of the earth; by your magic all the nations have been led astray;

in her has been found the blood of prophets, saints, and all who have been slaughtered on the earth."

Blessed and holy is the man who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death will have no power, but they will be priests of God and Christ, and reign with Him the thousand years.

When the thousand years have ended, Satan will be let loose from his prison.

He further said to me: "They have come true. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I myself, without cost, will give to anyone who is thirsty water from the springs of living water.

But the cowards, the unfaithful, the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the practicers of magic, the worshipers of idols, and all liars will have their portion in the lake that keeps on burning with fire and brimstone. This is the second death."

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so as to have a right to the tree of life and to enter the gates of the city.