Of his own accord he brought us into being through the message of truth, so that we might be a kind of first-fruits among his creatures.

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,

with your lives filled with the fruits which uprightness produces through Jesus Christ, to the honor and praise of God.

came among you, to thrive and bear its fruit among you, as it does all over the world, from the time when you first heard about the mercy of God,

But many who are first now will be last then, and many who are now last will be first.

So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last."

In my vision, when the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals, I heard the first of the four animals say with a voice like thunder, "Come!"

But many who are first now will be last then, and the last will be first."

It exercises the full authority of the first animal on its behalf. It makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first animal, whose mortal wound had been healed.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

Now after he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom he had driven out seven evil spirits.

There are those now last who will then be first, and there are those now first who will be last."