Blessed is he who reads and blessed are those who listen to the words of this prophecy and lay to heart what is written in it; for the time for its fulfillment is now close at hand.

I died; but I am now alive until the Ages of the Ages, and I have the keys of the gates of Death and of Hades!

Write down therefore the things you have just seen, and those which are now taking place, and those which are soon to follow:

I am now standing at the door and am knocking. If any one listens to My voice and opens the door, I will go in to be with him and will feast with him, and he shall feast with Me.

So He comes, and now He has taken the book out of the right hand of Him who is seated on the throne.

And now they sing a new song. "It is fitting," they say, "that Thou shouldst be the One to take the book And break its seals; Because Thou hast been offered in sacrifice, And hast purchased for God with Thine own blood Some out of every tribe and language and people and nation,

And now in loud voices they cried out, saying, "How long, O Sovereign Lord, the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay judgment and the taking of vengeance upon the inhabitants of the earth for our blood?"

The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed loud voices in Heaven which said, "The sovereignty of the world now belongs to our Lord and His Christ; and He will be King until the Ages of the Ages."

Then I heard a loud voice speaking in Heaven. It said, "The salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God have now come, and the sovereignty of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been hurled down--he who, day after day and night after night, was wont to accuse them in the presence of God.

And another angel came out from the altar--he who had power over fire--and he spoke in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Use your sharp sickle, and gather the bunches from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are now quite ripe."

Then the seventh angel poured his bowl into the air; and a loud voice came out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying, "Everything is now ready."

And the Wild Beast which once existed but does not now exist--he is an eighth king and yet is one of the seven and he goes his way into perdition.

And the merchants of the earth weep aloud and lament over her, because now there is no sale for their cargoes--

He also said, "They have now been fulfilled. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To those who are thirsty I will give the privilege of drinking from the well of the Water of Life without payment.

Now he who was speaking to me had a measuring-rod of gold, with which to measure the city and its gates and its wall.

"Make no secret," he added, "of the meaning of the predictions contained in this book; for the time for their fulfillment is now close at hand.