3. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!
4. From John, to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from “he who is,” and who was, and who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,
5. and from Jesus Christ – the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood
6. and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father – to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen.
7. (Look! He is returning with the clouds,and every eye will see him,even those who pierced him,and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him.This will certainly come to pass! Amen.)
8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God – the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come – the All-Powerful!
9. I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.
10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11. saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12. I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands,
13. and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest.