Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. He sent it by his angel to his servant John.

John bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads and hears these words of prophecy, and keeps those things which are written in them, for the time is near.

To the seven churches in Asia: Grace and peace come from him who is, was, and will be; and from the seven spirits standing before his throne. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us clean from our sins in his own blood.

And has made us kings and priests to God his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, including those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

"I am Alpha and Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, was, and is to come, the Almighty." I, John, your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet saying, "What you see, write in a book." "I am Alpha and Omega," it said, "the first and the last: write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches in Asia—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. In the midst of them stood one like a son of man, clothed in a robe that reached down to his feet and girded at the chest with a golden sash.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow; his eyes blazed like flames of fire. His feet were like burnished brass, as if they had been refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.

And he held in his right hand seven stars: out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; but he laid his right hand upon me and said, "Fear not; I am the first and the last."

"I am he who lives," he said, "and was dead; behold, I live forevermore." He has the keys of death and Hades. Amen. Write down the things you have seen, and the things that are present now, and the events that will take place in the future.

The seven stars which you saw in his right hand are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven golden lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.