Revelation 1 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which ^aGod gave Him to ^bshow to His slaves ^cthe things which must soon happen; and He indicated this ^dby sending it through His angel to His slave ¹^,^eJohn, ²who bore witness to ^athe word of God and to ^bthe witness of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³^aBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, ^bfor the time is near.

Message to the Seven Churches

⁴^aJohn to ^bthe seven churches that are in ^cAsia: ^dGrace to you and peace, from ^ethe One who is and who was and who ¹is to come, and from ^fthe seven Spirits who are before His throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ, ^athe faithful witness, the ^bfirstborn of the dead, and the ^cruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who ^dloves us and released us from our sins ¹by His blood— ⁶and He has made us to be a ^akingdom, ^bpriests to ¹^,^cHis God and Father—^dto Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen. ⁷^aBehold, He is coming with the clouds, and ^bevery eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will ^cmourn over Him. Yes, amen.

⁸“I am ^athe Alpha and the Omega,” says the ¹^,^bLord God, “^cwho is and who was and who ²is to come, the Almighty.”

The Vision of the Son of Man

⁹^aI, John, your ^bbrother and ^cfellow partaker in the tribulation and ^dkingdom and ¹^,^eperseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^fbecause of the word of God and the witness of Jesus. ¹⁰I was ¹^,^ain the Spirit on ^bthe Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^clike a trumpet, ¹¹saying, “^aWrite in a scroll what you see, and send it to the ^bseven churches: to ^cEphesus and to ^dSmyrna and to ^ePergamum and to ^fThyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw ^aseven golden lampstands; ¹³and ^ain the middle of the lampstands I saw one ^blike ¹a son of man, ^cclothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and ^dgirded across His chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴And His head and His ^ahair were white like white wool, like snow; and ^bHis eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵His ^afeet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His ^bvoice was like the sound of many waters, ¹⁶and having in His right hand ^aseven stars, and a ^bsharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth, and His ^cface was like ^dthe sun ¹shining in its power.

¹⁷And when I saw Him, I ^afell at His feet like a dead man. And He ^bplaced His right hand on me, saying, “^cDo not fear; ^dI am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the ^aliving One; and I ¹^,^bwas dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have ^cthe keys of death and of Hades. ¹⁹“Therefore ^awrite ^bthe things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place ^cafter these things. ²⁰“As for the ^amystery of the ^bseven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the ^cseven golden lampstands: the ^dseven stars are the angels of ^ethe seven churches, and the seven ^flampstands are the seven churches.