So 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 any more. I am the First and the Last;

"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.

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

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.

"I know your pressing trouble and poverty, but still you are rich; I know how you are abused by those who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are only a synagogue of Satan.

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.

Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be hurt at all by the second death."'"

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,

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 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;

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."

and I heard what seemed to be a voice from the midst of the four living creatures say: "Wheat, fifty cents a quart, barley, fifty cents for three quarts! But you must not injure the oil and wine."

"Do not injure the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we mark the slaves of our God with His seal on their foreheads."

This is why they are before the throne of God, and day and night serve Him in His temple, and He who is seated on His throne will shelter them in His tent.

Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was cursed with a plague, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, so that one-third of them were darkened, and there was no light for one-third of the day and for one-third of the night.

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.

They were not permitted to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and the torture they inflicted was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a man.

In those days people will look for death but will not find it, they will long to die but death will flee from them.

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works their hands had done, so as to give up worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot either see or hear or move;

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!"

but leave off the court outside the temple; do not measure it, because it has been given over to the heathen, and for forty-two months they will trample the city underfoot.

For three days and a half men of all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look upon their lifeless bodies, and will not let them be buried.

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.

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.

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,

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."

Who will not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship you, because the justice of your sentences has now been shown."

so that men were severely scorched, but they only cursed the name of God who had authority over these plagues, and would not repent and give Him glory.

and cursed the God of heaven because of 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 stays awake and keeps his clothes ready, so that he may not go naked and people see his shame.)

Every island vanished; not a mountain could be seen;

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.

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins and suffer from her plagues.

To the same degree in which she has lived in splendor and luxury, give her torture and tears. Because she is always boasting in her heart, 'I sit enthroned as queen; I am not a widow, I shall never experience any sorrow' --

Then I fell before his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must take care not to do that. I am only a fellow-slave of yours and of your brothers who hold to the testimony borne by Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony borne by Jesus is the inspiring spirit of prophecy."

Then I saw thrones and those who were seated on them, and permission was granted them to pass judgment, even those who had been beheaded for bearing testimony to Jesus and for preaching the word of God, who refused to worship the wild beast and his statue, and would not let his mark be stamped upon their foreheads and upon their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years had ended. This is the first resurrection.

Then the devil who led them astray was hurled into the fiery lake of burning brimstone, where the wild beast and false prophet were, and there they are to be tortured day and night forever and ever.

If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was hurled into the fiery lake.

The city does not need the sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God has lighted it, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Its gates will never be closed by day -- for there will be no night there --

There will be no night any longer; so they will need no lamplight nor sunlight, for the Lord God will give them light, and they will rule forever and ever.

But he said to me: "You must be careful not to do that; I am only a fellow-slave of yours, of your brothers the prophets, and of the people who practice the truths contained in this book. Worship God."

Then he said to me: "Do not seal up the words of prophecy contained in this book, for the time of their coming true is near.