John to the seven churches in Asia: grace be to you and peace from HE WHO IS AND WAS AND IS COMING, and from the seven Spirits before his throne,

"I am the alpha and the omega," saith the Lord God, who is and was and is coming, the almighty.

So I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me; and on turning round I saw seven golden lampstands

I was dead and here I am alive for evermore, holding the keys that unlock death and Hades.

Then to the angel of the church at Smyrna write thus: ??These are the words of the First and Last, who was dead and came to life:

I know where you dwell, where Satan sits enthroned, and yet you adhere to my Name, you have not renounced your faith in me even during the days when my witness, my faithful Antipas, was martyred in your midst ??where Satan dwells.

After this I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard talking with me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must come to pass after this."

The four living Creatures, each with six wings apiece, are full of eyes all over their bodies and under their wings, and day and night they never cease the chant, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is coming."

"Thou deservest, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for it was thou who didst create all things: they existed and were created by thy will."

Then I saw lying on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll with writing on the back, as well as inside, sealed with seven seals.

But no one was fit, either in heaven or on earth or underneath the earth, to open the scroll or look into it.

and it went and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

singing a new song: "Thou deservest to take the scroll and open its seals, for thou wast slain and by shedding thy blood hast ransomed for God men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation;

So I looked, and there was a white horse, its rider holding a bow; he was given a crown, and away he rode conquering and to conquer.

And away went another red horse; its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other; he was given a huge sword.

And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living Creature calling, "Come." So I looked and there was a black horse; its rider held a pair of scales in his hand,

So I looked, and there was a livid horse; its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. They were given power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill men with sword and famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

But they were each given a white robe, and told to remain quiet for a little longer, until their number was completed by their fellow-servants and their brothers who were to be killed like themselves.

the sky was swept aside like a scroll being folded up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

And I heard what was the number of the sealed ??a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel,

After that I looked, and there was a great host whom no one could count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clad in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands;

And another angel went and stood at the altar with a golden censer; he was given abundant incense, to be laid with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar in front of the throne;

The first blew, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, falling on the earth; a third of the earth was burnt up, a third of the trees were burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up.

The second angel blew, and what looked like a huge mountain on fire was hurled into the sea; a third of the sea turned blood,

The fifth angel blew, and I saw a Star which had dropped from heaven to earth; he was given the key of the pit of the abyss,

these they were allowed, not to kill but to torture, for five months ??and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a man.

they had scales like iron coats of mail; the whirring of their wings was like the noise of many chariots rushing to battle;

And the number of the troops of their cavalry was two hundred millions (I heard what was their number).

Then I saw another strong angel descend from heaven; he was clad in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, his face like the sun, his feet like columns of fire,

After the seven thunders had spoken, I was going to write it down; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, do not write it."

Then I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel and swallowed it; it did taste sweet, like honey, but when I had eaten it, it was bitter to digest.

Then I was told, "You must prophesy again of many peoples and nations and languages and kings."

And I was given a reed like a rod, and told, "Rise up and measure the temple of God and the altar, numbering the worshippers;

and their corpses will lie in the streets of that great City whose mystical name is Sodom and Egypt ??where their Lord also was crucified.

At that hour a great earthquake took place, a tenth of the City was destroyed, and seven thousand souls perished in the earthquake: the rest were awestruck, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

saying, "We thank thee, Lord God almighty, who art and wast, that thou hast assumed thy great power and begun to reign;

Then the temple of God in heaven was thrown open, and the ark of his covenant was seen inside his temple; there were flashes of lightning, loud blasts, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a hailstorm.

And a great portent was seen in heaven, a woman clad in the sun ??with the moon under her feet, and a tiara of twelve stars on her head;

she was with child, crying in the pangs of travail, in anguish for her delivery.

Then another portent was seen in heaven! There was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and seven horns and seven diadems upon his heads;

his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was on the point of being delivered, 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 nations with an iron flail; her child was caught up to God and to his throne,

but he failed, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.

So the huge dragon was thrown down ??that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, the seducer of the whole world ??thrown down to the earth, and his angels thrown down along with him.

but the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle for her flight to the desert, to her appointed place, where she is nourished for a Time, two Times, and half a Time, safe from the serpent.

One of his heads looked as if it had been slain and killed, but the deadly wound was healed, and the whole earth went after him in wonder,

He was allowed to utter loud and blasphemous vaunts, and allowed to exert authority for two and forty months;

He was allowed to wage war on the saints and to conquer them, and given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation;

He exerts the full authority of the first Beast in his presence, causing the earth and its inhabitants to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

and to this statue of the Beast he was allowed to impart the breath of life, so that the statue of the Beast should actually speak. He has everyone put to death who will not worship the statue of the Beast,

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on mount Sion, and along with him a hundred and forty-four thousand bearing his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads!

And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waves and the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like harpists playing on their harps;

And on their lips no lie was ever detected; they are stainless.

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud One resembling a human being, a golden crown upon his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

outside the City was the winepress trodden, and blood gushed out of the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for the space of two hundred miles.

And I saw what was like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and, standing beside the sea of glass, those who came off conquerors from the Beast and his statue and the cipher of his name; they had harps of God

After that I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was thrown open,

and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his might, nor could anyone enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were over.

Then I heard the angel of the waters cry, "O holy One, who art and wast, just art thou in this thy sentence.

The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and the sun was allowed to scorch men with fire,

The fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the Beast; his realm was darkened, and men gnawed their tongues in anguish,

followed by flashes of lightning, loud blasts, peals of thunder, and a mighty earthquake, the like of which never was since man lived on earth, such a mighty earthquake it was;

the great City was shattered in three parts, the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered to give Babylon the great the cup of the wine of the passion of his anger.

and huge hailstones fell from heaven on men, till men blasphemed God for the plague of the hail ??for the plague of it was fearful.

The woman was clad in purple and scarlet, her ornaments were of gold and precious stones and pearls, in her hand was a golden cup full of all abominations and the impurities of her vice,

and on her forehead a name was written by way of symbol, "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of all abominations on earth."

Then I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus; and as I looked at her I marvelled greatly.

The Beast you have seen was, is not, but is to rise from the abyss ??yet to perdition he shall go ??and the dwellers on earth will wonder (all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life), when they see that the Beast was, is not, but is coming.

As for the Beast which was and is not, he is an eighth head: he belongs to the seven, and to perdition he shall go.

as they watched the smoke of her burning, crying, 'What city was like the great City?'

And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, of all who were slain upon earth."

After that I heard what was like the shout of a great host in heaven, crying, "Hallelujah! salvation and glory and power are our God's!

Then I was told, "Write this: ??'Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage-banquet of the Lamb!'" The angel also told me, "These are genuine words of God."

Then I saw heaven open wide ??and there was a white horse: his rider is faithful and true, yea, just are his judgments and his warfare.

And I saw the Beast and the kings of earth and their troops mustered to wage war on him who was seated on the horse and on his troops.

But the Beast was seized, together with the false Prophet who had performed in his presence the miracles by means of which he seduced those who received the mark of the Beast and worshipped his statue; both of them were flung alive into the lake of fire that blazes with brimstone,

and he will emerge to seduce the nations at the four corners of the earth, even Gog and Magog, mustering them for the fray. Their number was like the sand of the sea,

and their seducer, the devil, was flung into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the Beast and the false Prophet also lie, to be tortured day and night for ever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne, and One who was seated thereon; from his presence earth and sky fled, no more to be found.

And I saw the dead, high and low, standing before the throne, and books were opened ??also another book, the book of Life, was opened ??and the dead were judged by what was written in these books, by what they had done.

and whoever was not found enrolled in the book of Life was flung into the lake of fire ??which is the second death, the lake of fire.

Then he who was seated on the throne said, "Lo, I make all things new." And he said, "Write this: 'these words are trustworthy and genuine.'"

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that theirs may be the right to the tree of Life, the right to enter the gates of the City!