and from Jesus Christ the trustworthy witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the sovereign of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has released us from our sins by his blood

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. I am the first and the last,

the living one. I was dead, yet here I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys of death and the underworld.

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

So remember how far you have fallen, and repent and do as you did at first, or else I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.

I know where you live; where Satan has his throne! Yet you cling to my name and did not renounce your faith in me even in the days when my faithful Antipas, my witness, was put to death among you??here Satan lives.

I know the things you do, your love and faithfulness and helpfulness and endurance, and I know that you are now doing more than you did at first.

and I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches men's hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you for what you have done.

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: " 'He who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars speaks thus: I know what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but you are dead.

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

Yet what was left of mankind, those who escaped being killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands and give up worshiping demons and gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wooden idols, which cannot either see or hear or move,

and they did not repent of their murders, or their magic arts, or their immorality, or their thefts.

So I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it, and it did taste as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it, it made my stomach bitter.

The heathen were enraged, but now your anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your slaves the prophets and your people high and low who revere your name, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth!"

They have conquered him because of the Lamb's blood, and the message to which they bore testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who from this time forth die as Christians!" "Yes!" answers the Spirit, "Let them rest from their toil, for what they have done will go with them!"

The second emptied his bowl upon the sea, and it turned into blood like a dead man's, and every live thing in the sea died.

The rest of the dead were not restored to life until the thousand years were over. This is the first resurrection.

I saw the dead, high and low, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened; it was the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books about what they had done.

The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and the underworld gave up the dead that were in them, and they were all judged by what they had done.