However, I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.

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."

The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox, the third living creature had a face like a human, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and were full of eyes inside and out. Without stopping day or night they were saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming."

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.

When the lamb had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bowed down in front of him. Each held a harp and a gold bowl full of incense, the prayers of the saints.

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 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.

Each of them was given a white robe. They were told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers was completed, who would be killed as they themselves had been.

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,

The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them.

The name of the star is Wormwood. One-third of the water turned into wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had turned bitter.

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.

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

They had breastplates like iron, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle.

They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months.

They had the angel of the bottomless pit ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

It told the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River."

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.

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 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.

Those living on earth will gloat over them, celebrate, and send gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those living on earth.

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.

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.

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

But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed from its mouth.

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.

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.

They worshipped the dragon because it had given authority to the beast. They also worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight a war with it?"

All those who had become settled down and at home, living on the earth, will worship it, everyone whose name had not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the lamb that had been slaughtered since the foundation of the world.

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

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.

They were singing a new song in front of the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

Then another angel came out of the Temple in heaven. He, too, had a sharp sickle.

From the altar came another angel who had authority over fire. He called out in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, "Swing your sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of grapes from the vine of the earth, because those grapes are ripe."

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.

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.

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.

After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was made bright by his splendor.

Frightened by the severity of her punishment, businesses that had become rich because of her will stand at a distance, crying and mourning:

Then they threw dust on their heads and shouted while crying and mourning: "How terrible, how terrible it is for the great city, where all who had ships at sea became rich from her wealth, because it has been destroyed in a single hour!

The blood of the world's prophets, saints, and all who had been murdered was found within her."

The beast was captured, along with the false prophet who had performed signs on its behalf. By these signs the false prophet had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. They came back to life and ruled with the Messiah for a thousand years.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and the sea was gone.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, "Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb."

It had a large, high wall with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates.

The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb were written on them.

The angel who was talking to me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its walls.

I, John, heard and saw these things. When I had heard and seen them, I bowed down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing me these things.