John to the seven churches in Asia: spiritual blessing and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before His throne,

"Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

I turned to see who it was that was speaking to me, and as I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,

In His right hand He was holding seven stars, and a sharp, double-edged sword was coming out of His mouth, and His face was shining like the sun at midday.

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.

"To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: 'The One who is holding the seven stars in His right hand and is walking among the golden lampstands speaks as follows:

"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.

Out from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, while in front of it seven flaming lamps were burning; they were the seven spirits of God.

Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a book with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.

But one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping! See! The Lion who sprang from the tribe of Judah, who belongs to the line of David, has conquered, so that He can open the book and break its seven seals."

Then I saw, midway between the throne and the four living creatures, standing among the elders, a Lamb that looked as though He had been slaughtered. He had seven horns and seven eyes; the latter are the seven spirits of God which are sent on duty to every portion of the earth.

And when the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals, I looked and heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Come!"

Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

and in a loud voice he shouted like the roaring of a lion; and when he had shouted, the seven thunders rumbled.

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!"

At that very hour there was a great earthquake, and one-tenth of the city went down. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were stricken with awe, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Another symbol was seen in heaven -- there was a huge dragon, red as fire, with seven heads and ten horns, with seven diadems on his heads.

Then I stood on the sand of the seashore, and I saw a wild beast coming up out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on his horns, and blasphemous titles on his heads.

Then I saw another symbol in heaven, great and wonderful: seven angels bringing seven plagues which are to be the last, because with them God's wrath is completely expressed.

and the seven angels bringing the seven plagues came out of the sanctuary. They were clothed in clean, brilliant linen and had belts of gold around their breasts.

Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven bowls of gold, full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,

(15:7) and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory and power of God, and no one could go into the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were at an end.

Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary say to the seven angels: "Go and empty the seven bowls of God's wrath upon the earth."

Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and spoke to me, saying: "Come, I will show you the doom of the noted prostitute who is seated on many waters,

So he carried me away in spiritual rapture to a desert, and I saw a woman seated on a scarlet wild beast, covered with blasphemous titles; he had seven heads and ten horns.

but the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will tell you the symbolical meaning of the woman, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns, that carries her.

Here is scope for a mind that is packed with wisdom. The seven heads are the seven hills on which the woman is seated.

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,

So it is with the wild beast that once was but is no more; he is the eighth, and yet is one of the seven, and he is going to be destroyed.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls that were full of the seven plagues came and talked with me, and said, "Come; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."