I died; but I am now alive until the Ages of the Ages, and I have the keys of the gates of Death and of Hades!

Write down therefore the things you have just seen, and those which are now taking place, and those which are soon to follow:

Now, remember the height from which you have fallen; repent and act as you did at first. If not, I will come to you [very soon] and remove your lamp stand, unless you repent.

Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer. Behold, now, the Devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye will have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

I know your works, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that your works are now more than at the first.

So, remember how you have received and heard the message [i.e., they had eagerly accepted the Gospel]; [now] obey it and repent. For if you do not become [spiritually] alert, I will come as a thief [i.e. unexpectedly] and you will not know the [exact] time that I will come upon you [in judgment. See 2:16, 25].

"But you have a few people [there] in Sardis who have not [spiritually] polluted their clothing, and they will walk with me in [robes of] white [i.e., probably now on earth as well as in heaven], for they are worthy.

But now, because you are lukewarm, neither hot not cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

I am now standing at the door and am knocking. If any one listens to My voice and opens the door, I will go in to be with him and will feast with him, and he shall feast with Me.

So He comes, and now He has taken the book out of the right hand of Him who is seated on the throne.

Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song [of glorious redemption], saying,

“Worthy and deserving are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.

They cried in a loud voice, saying, “O Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood on those [unregenerate ones] who dwell on the earth?”

Now I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from all the tribes of the people of Israel:

For this reason, they are [standing] before the throne of God; and they serve Him [in worship] day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them and shelter and protect them [with His presence].

Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Now the seven angels holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

(Now the name of the star is Wormwood.) So a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned.

Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men's faces.

One wo is past, and now two woes are to follow.

And the four angels who had been ready for this hour and day and month and year were [now] released to kill one third of mankind.

Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.

in the days of the seventh angel's voice, when he now blows his blast, then shall the secret purpose of God be fulfilled, as he assured his servants the prophets."

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

The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

Then the seventh angel sounded [his trumpet]; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,

“The kingdom (dominion, rule) of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

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!"

Now the dragon's tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.

Now the great dragon was thrown down??hat old Serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Now when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.

Now the [second] beast was given [the power] to give breath to the statue of the [first] beast, so that it could both speak and cause all those who refused to worship the statue of the [first] beast to be killed.

Now for the gift of interpretation! Let the discerning calculate the cipher of the Beast; it is the cipher of a man, and the figures are six hundred and sixty-six.

I also heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. Now the sound I heard was like that made by harpists playing their harps,

Then I heard [the distinct words of] a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes, [blessed indeed],” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest and have relief from their labors, for their deeds do follow them.”

And another angel came out from the altar--he who had power over fire--and he spoke in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Use your sharp sickle, and gather the bunches from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are now quite ripe."

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."

Now I heard the angel of the waters saying: "You are just -- the one who is and who was, the Holy One -- because you have passed these judgments,

Now the spirits gathered the kings and their armies to the place that is called Armageddon in Hebrew.

Then the seventh angel poured his bowl into the air; and a loud voice came out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying, "Everything is now ready."

Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality.

“The beast that you saw was [once], but [now] is not, and he is about to come up out of the abyss (the bottomless pit, the dwelling place of demons) and go to destruction (perdition). And the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, will be astonished when they see the beast, because he was and is not and is yet to come [to earth].

Now for the interpretation of the discerning mind! The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman is seated:

And the beast that [once] was but is not, is himself also an eighth king and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction (perdition).

and he shouted aloud with a strong voice, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, now she is a haunt of demons, the den of all foul spirits, a cage for every foul and loathsome bird:

for her self-glorification and her luxury, give her now an equal measure of torture and misery. In her heart she says 'I sit here a queen; no widow am I; I shall never know misery.'

And the merchants of the earth weep aloud and lament over her, because now there is no sale for their cargoes--

O heaven, rejoice over her! Saints, apostles, prophets, rejoice! For God has avenged you on her now."

Then I heard something like the shout of a vast multitude, and like the boom of many pounding waves, and like the roar of mighty peals of thunder, saying,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all] reigns.

Let us rejoice and triumph, let us give him the glory! For now comes the marriage of the Lamb; his bride has arrayed herself,

She was given expensive, bright, clean linen [clothing] to wear." (Now the expensive linen [clothing] represents the righteous deeds of the saints [i.e., God's holy people]).

Now his eyes [were] a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many royal headbands having a name written that no one except he himself knows.

Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf -- signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.

Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison

And I saw dead people, the most important and the least significant ones, standing in front of the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life [Note: This refers to a record of those to whom God has granted never ending life]. And these dead people [i.e., who have now been resurrected] were judged according to their deeds, based on what was recorded in the books.

He also said, "They have now been fulfilled. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To those who are thirsty I will give the privilege of drinking from the well of the Water of Life without payment.

Now he who was speaking to me had a measuring-rod of gold, with which to measure the city and its gates and its wall.

Now the city is laid out as a square, its length and width the same. He measured the city with the measuring rod at fourteen hundred miles (its length and width and height are equal).

Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God -- the All-Powerful -- and the Lamb are its temple.

And he said to me, These words are certain and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to make clear to his servants the things which are now to come about.

Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who had shown me these things.

"Make no secret," he added, "of the meaning of the predictions contained in this book; for the time for their fulfillment is now close at hand.