who testifies to what he saw??o the message of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the man who reads this prophecy and those who hear it read and heed what is written in it, for the time is near.

John to the seven churches in Asia, blessing and peace to you from him who is and was and is coming, and from the seven spirits before his throne,

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

See! He is coming on the clouds, and every eye will see him, even the men who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will lament over him. So it is to be, Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega." says the Lord God, who is and was and is coming, the Almighty.

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: " 'He who holds the seven stars in his right hand and goes about among the seven gold lampstands speaks thus:

I know what you have done; your hard work and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, and that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles when they were not, and have found them to be impostors.

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will permit him who is victorious to eat the fruit of the tree of life that stands in the Paradise of God.'

"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: " 'The first and the last, who died and came to life again, speaks thus:

I know of your distress and poverty??hough you are rich!?? know how you are slandered by those who claim to be Jews when they are not so, but only a synagogue of Satan!

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. He who is victorious will not be hurt by the second death.'

"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: " 'He who wields the sharp, double-edged sword speaks thus:

Yet I hold it somewhat against you that you have among you some adherents of the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entrap the children of Israel into eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols, and into immoral practices.

So you also have among you some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give him who is victorious some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white pebble with a new name written on it which no one knows except the man who receives it.'

But I hold it against you that you tolerate that Jezebel of a woman who claims to be inspired and who is misleading my slaves and teaching them to practice immorality and to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols.

See! I am going to lay her on a sick bed, and to bring great distress upon those who share her immorality, unless they repent of her practices,

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.

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 call them??o you I say, I have no fresh burden to lay on you,

To him who is victorious and continues to the end to do the things that please me, I will give authority over the heathen??27 just such authority as I received from my Father; he will shepherd them with an iron staff and shatter them like earthen jars!??28 and I will give him the morning star.

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.'

"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.

Yet you have a few at Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me clad in white, for they deserve to.

He who is victorious will be clothed thus, in white clothing, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, but I will acknowledge him as mine in the presence of my Father and his angels.

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.'

"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: " 'He who is holy and true, who carries the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open, speaks thus:

I will make some who belong to that synagogue of Satan and claim to be Jews when they are not so, but are lying?? will make them come and bow down at your feet, and learn that I loved you.

I will make him who is victorious a pillar in the temple of my God; he shall never go out of it again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God??he new Jerusalem, which is to come down out of heaven from my God??nd my new name.

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.'

I reprove and discipline all whom I love. So be earnest and repent.

I will permit him who is victorious to take his seat beside me on my throne, just as I have been victorious and taken my seat beside my Father on his throne.

Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.' "

The one who was seated on it looked like jasper and sardius, and around the throne was a halo of the color of an emerald.

The four animals have each of them six wings, and they are covered with eyes all over and underneath their wings. And day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is coming."

And whenever the animals offer glory, honor, and thanksgiving to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,

the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and they throw down their crowns before the throne, and say,

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

And I saw a mighty angel announcing in a loud voice, "Who is fit to open the roll and break its seals?"

But one of the elders said to me, "Do not cry! See! The lion who is of the tribe of Judah, of the line of David, has been victorious so that he can open the roll and break its seals."

He came and took the roll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

Then I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, underneath the earth, and on the sea, and all that they contain, say, "Blessing, honor, glory, and power to him who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever!"

When he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who have been slaughtered on account of God's message and for adhering to the testimony.

Then each of them was given a white robe and they were told to be quiet a little while longer, until the number of their fellow-slaves and their brothers, who were to be killed as they had been, should be complete.

And they said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and conceal us from the sight of him who is seated on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb,

for the great day of their anger has come, and who can escape?"

Then I saw another angel ascend from the east with the seal of the living God, and he cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had it in their power to harm the earth and the sea,

and they cried in a loud voice, "Our deliverance is the work of our God who is seated on the throne, and of the Lamb!"

Then one of the elders addressed me and said, "Who are these people dressed in white robes, and where do they come from?"

I said to him, "You know, my lord." He said to me, "They are the people who come through the great persecution, who have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is why they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who is seated on the throne will shelter them.

for the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

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

Then in my vision I heard an eagle flying in midair say in a loud voice, "Alas! Alas! Alas for the inhabitants of the earth, because of the other blasts of the three angels who are going to blow their trumpets!"

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.

say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Then the four angels who were held in readiness for that hour and day and month and year were let loose to kill one third of mankind.

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,

Then the angel, whom I had seen standing on the sea and on the land, raised his right hand to heaven,

and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, that there should be no more delay,

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

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, "Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who worship there,

After three days and a half, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror seized those who saw them.

Then the twenty-four elders who were seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,

saying, "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and were, because you have assumed your great power and begun to reign.

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!"

His tail swept away one third of the stars of heaven and flung them down upon the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth to a child in order to devour her child as soon as it was born.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to shepherd all the heathen with a staff of iron; and her child was caught up to God, to his throne.

So the great dragon, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "The deliverance and power and reign of our God, and the authority of his Christ have now come, for the accuser of our brothers, who kept bringing charges against them day and night before our God, has been hurled down.

Therefore, rejoice, you heavens and you who live in them! But alas for the earth and the sea, for the devil has descended upon you in a great rage, for he knows that he has only a short time left."

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male child.

So the dragon was enraged at the woman, and he went off to make war on the rest of her children??hose who obey God's commands and adhere to the testimony of Jesus.

and worshiped the dragon for having given the animal his authority, and they worshiped the animal, and said, "Who is there like the animal? Who can fight with it?"

It opened its mouth in blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling-place, that is, those who live in heaven.

Let everyone who can hear listen.

It is also allowed to impart life to the animal's statue so that the animal's statue can speak, and to have all who do not worship the animal's statue killed.

Then in my vision I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 people who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

They were singing a new song before the throne and the four animals and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been ransomed from the earth.

They are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women; they are celibates. It is they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed from among men as the first-fruits for God and the Lamb,

He cried in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour for his judgment has come. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water."

A second angel followed, saying, "She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen, who made all the heathen drink the wine of the passion of her immorality!"

The smoke of their torture will go up forever and ever, and they will have no rest night or day??hese worshipers of the animal and its statue, and any who bear the mark of its name."

On this fact rests the endurance of God's people, who obey God's commands and cling to their faith in Jesus.

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!"

And another angel came out of the temple and cried in a loud voice to him who was seated on the cloud, "Use your sickle and reap. The time has come to reap, for the earth's harvest is ripe."

So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

And another angel came forth from the altar, who presided over the fire, and he called in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Use your sharp sickle and gather the bunches of grapes from the earth's vine, for the grapes on it are ripe."

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and standing upon the sea of glass those who had come off victorious from the animal and its statue and the number corresponding to its name. They had harps that God had given them,

Who will not fear and give glory to your name, Lord? For you alone are holy. All the heathen will come and worship before you, for the justice of your sentences has now been shown."

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

So the first angel went and emptied his bowl upon the earth, and loathsome, painful sores attacked the men who bore the mark of the animal and worshiped its statue.

Then I heard the angel of the waters say, "You are just in pronouncing this sentence, you who are and were, the Holy One;

and they were dreadfully scorched, but they reviled the name of God who had control of these plagues, and would not repent and give him glory.

(See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who keeps awake, and keeps hold of his clothes, so that he will not have to go naked and be put to shame!)

Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and spoke to me. "Come," he said, "I will show you the doom of the great idolatress who is seated on many waters,

The ten horns that you saw are also ten kings, who have not yet begun to reign, but for a single hour they receive authority as kings along with the animal.

her plagues will overtake her in one day, death, grief, and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is mighty.

The kings of the earth who have joined in her idolatry and luxury will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

The dealers in these things, who had grown rich from their trade with her, for fear of her torture will stand a long way off, weeping and mourning,