Look! He is coming in the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. So be it! Amen.

saying, "Write on a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

Then I turned to see who was talking to me, and when I turned I saw seven gold lamp stands.

When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. But he placed his right hand on me and said, "Stop being afraid! I am the first and the last,

The secret meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp stands is this: the seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches."

"Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give the privilege of eating from the tree of life that is in God's paradise.'"

Don't be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look! The Devil is going to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested. For ten days you will undergo suffering. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the victor's crown of life.

"I know where you live. Satan's throne is there. Yet you hold on to my name and have not denied your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed in your presence, where Satan lives.

But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality.

So repent. If you don't, I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth.

So remember what you received and heard. Obey it, and repent. If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you won't know the time when I will come to you.

I am coming soon! Hold on to what you have so that no one takes your victor's crown.

"To the messenger of the church in Laodicea, write: "The Amen, the witness who is faithful and true, the originator of God's creation, says this:

You say, "I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don't need anything." Yet you don't realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won't show, and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see.

I correct and discipline those whom I love, so be serious and repent!

After these things, I saw a door standing open in heaven. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this."

Instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven with a person seated on the throne.

Around the throne were 24 other thrones, and on these thrones sat 24 elders wearing white robes and gold victor's crowns on their heads.

In front of the throne was something like a sea of glass as clear as crystal. In the center of the throne and on each side of the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

the 24 elders bow down and worship in front of the one who sits on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever. They throw their victor's crowns in front of the throne and say,

Then I saw in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the outside, sealed with seven seals.

I also saw a powerful angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?"

Then I saw a lamb standing in the middle of the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders. He looked like he had been slaughtered. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.

Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels, the living creatures, and the elders surrounding the throne. They numbered 10,000's times 10,000 and thousands times thousands.

I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and on the sea, and everything that is in them, saying, "To the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise, honor, glory, and power forever and ever!"

Then I saw the lamb open the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Go!"

Then I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow, and a victor's crown had been given to him. He went out as a conqueror to conquer.

When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Go!"

A second horse went out. It was fiery red, and its rider was given permission to take peace away from the earth and to make people slaughter one another. So he was given a large sword.

When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Go!" I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a scale in his hand.

I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures, saying, "One day's ration of wheat for a day's wage, or three day's ration of barley for a day's wage! But don't damage the olive oil or the wine!"

When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Go!"

I looked, and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. They were given authority over one-fourth of the earth to kill people using wars, famines, plagues, and the wild animals of the earth.

When the lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.

Then I saw the lamb open the sixth seal. There was a powerful earthquake. The sun turned as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon turned as red as blood.

After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the land, on the sea, or on any tree.

I saw another angel coming from the east having the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the land and sea,

"Don't harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads."

After these things, I looked, and there was a crowd so large that no one was able to count it! They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb and were wearing white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

Then I saw the seven angels who stand in God's presence, and seven trumpets were given to them.

The smoke from the incense and the prayers of the saints went up from the angel's hand to God.

When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the sea turned into blood,

one-third of the creatures that were living in the sea died, and one-third of the ships was destroyed.

When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, one-third of the sun, one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars were struck so that one-third of them turned dark. One-third of the day was kept from having light, as was the night.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying overhead say in a loud voice, "How terrible, how terrible, how terrible for those living on the earth, because of the blasts of the remaining trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!"

When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor's crowns that looked like gold, and their faces were like human faces.

They had hair like women's hair and teeth like lions' teeth.

So the four angels who were ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill one-third of humanity.

This was how I saw the horses in my vision: The riders wore breastplates that had the color of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.

The rest of the people who survived these plagues did not repent from their evil actions or stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

Then I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like columns of fire.

He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,

When the seven thunders spoke, I was going to write, but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don't write it down."

Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.

He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: "There will be no more delay.

When the time approaches for the seventh angel to blow his trumpet, God's secret plan will be fulfilled, as he had announced to his servants, the prophets."

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, "Go and take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. "Take it and eat it," he told me. "It will turn bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth."

So I took the small scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it turned bitter in my stomach.

Then the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven calling to them, "Come up here!" So they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.

When the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The world's kingdom has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever."

Then the twenty-four elders who were sitting on their thrones in God's presence fell on their faces and worshipped God.

A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed with the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a victor's crown of twelve stars on her head.

Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and knocked them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "Now the salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah have come. For the one who accuses our brothers, who accuses them day and night in the presence of our God, has been thrown out.

So be glad, heavens, and those who live in them! How terrible it is for the earth and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, filled with rage, knowing that his time is short!"

When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the boy.

However, the woman was given the two wings of a large eagle so that she could fly away from the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time.

The dragon became angry with the woman and went away to do battle against the rest of her children, the ones who keep God's commandments and hold on to the testimony about Jesus.

I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns, seven heads, and ten royal crowns on its horns. On its heads were blasphemous names.

The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear's feet, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and complete authority.

One of the beast's heads looked like it had sustained a mortal wound, but its fatal wound was healed. Rapt with amazement, the whole world followed the beast.

I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it talked like a dragon.

The second beast was allowed to impart life to the image of the first beast so that the image of the beast could talk and order the execution of those who would not worship the image of the beast.

so that no one may buy or sell unless he has the mark, which is the beast's name or the number of its name.

Then I looked, and there was the lamb, standing on Mount Zion! With him were 144,000 people who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

Then I saw another angel flying overhead with the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the time for him to judge has arrived. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

will drink the wine of God's wrath, which has been poured undiluted into the cup of his anger. He will be tortured with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the lamb.

I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: How blessed are the dead, that is, those who die in the Lord from now on!" "Yes," says the Spirit. "Let them rest from their labors, for their actions follow them."

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud! On the cloud sat someone who was like the Son of Man, with a gold victor's crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

So the angel swung his sickle in the earth, gathered the grapes from the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.

The wine press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press as high as a horse's bridle for about 1,600 stadia.

I saw another sign in heaven. It was both spectacular and amazing. There were seven angels with the seven last plagues, with which God's wrath is completed.

Then I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who had conquered the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass holding God's harps in their hands.

They sang the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the lamb: "Your deeds are both spectacular and amazing, Lord God Almighty. Your ways are just and true, King of the nations.

Then I heard a loud voice from the Temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth."

So the first angel went and poured his bowl on the earth. A horrible, painful sore appeared on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshipped the image.

The second angel poured his bowl into the sea. It became like the blood of a dead body, and every living thing in the sea died.

Then I heard the angel in charge of the water say, "You are just. You are the one who is and who was, the Holy One, because you have judged these things.

Then I saw three disgusting spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

"See, I am coming like a thief. How blessed is the person who remains alert and keeps his clothes on! He won't have to go naked and let others see his shame."

Huge hailstones, each weighing about a talent, fell from the sky on people, who cursed God because the plague of hail was so terrible.

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was controlled by blasphemy. It had seven heads and ten horns.

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. I was very surprised when I saw her.

The beast that you saw existed once, but is no longer, and is going to crawl out of the bottomless pit and then proceed to its destruction. Those living on earth, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, will be surprised when they see the beast because it was, is no longer, and will come again.

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom. They will receive authority to rule as kings with the beast for one hour.