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 to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands,
13. and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest.
14. His head and hair were white like wool — white as snow — and His eyes like a fiery flame.
15. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters.
16. He had seven stars in His right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth, and His face was shining like the sun at midday.
17. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last,
18. and the Living One. I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.