"I am the Alpha and the Omega" [Note: These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and indicate "the beginning and the end" See 21:6], says the Lord God Almighty, who is [in the present], and who was [in the past] and who will come [in the future].

I know where you are living; [it is] where Satan's throne is. And [I know] that you are holding on firmly to my name, and did not deny [your] faith in me, even in the days of my faithful witness Antipas [Note: The Greek word here for witness is "martyr"], who was killed there where you are, where Satan lives.

And I will strike her children dead [or, "kill her children by some terrible calamity" See Ex. 5:3 LXX]. Then all the churches will know that I am the One who searches the inmost being of people [Note: The Greek says, "searches the kidneys and hearts." In that day these internal organs stood for the inner thoughts, emotions, etc.]. And I will repay each one of you people according to what you have done.

Then I looked, and heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living beings and elders. They numbered in the tens of thousands, and thousands and thousands [more]. [Note: The Greek says "myriads of myriads"].

And the star was called "Wormwood" [Note: The Greek word here means "bitter," See Lam. 3:15 ASV], and one third of the waters became wormwood [i.e., bitter], and many people died from the waters because they had become bitter.

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

“And merchants of the earth will weep and grieve over her, because no one buys their cargo (goods, merchandise) anymore—

cargo of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple cloth and silk and scarlet cloth and all kinds of scented wood and all kinds of ivory goods and all kinds of goods of precious wood and bronze and iron and marble

and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and unguent, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and cargo of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies, and lives of men.

her wealth is all sunk in a moment! the pilots and the passengers: the ships-crew, and the super-cargo's shall stand afar off,