11. saying, “Write on a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12. I turned toward the voice which was talking to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lamp stands.
13. There was someone like the Son of Man among the lamp stands. He was wearing a robe that reached his feet. He wore a gold belt around his waist.
14. His head and his hair were white like wool—like snow. His eyes were like flames of fire.
15. His feet were like glowing bronze refined in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of raging waters.
16. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun when it shines in all its brightness.
17. When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. Then he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last,
18. the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever. I have the keys of death and hell.
19. Therefore, write down what you have seen, what is, and what is going to happen after these things.
20. The hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches.