8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, the All-Powerful.
9. I, John, your brother and co-sharer in the affliction and kingdom and steadfastness 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, and I heard behind me a great sound like a trumpet
11. saying, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12. And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands,
13. and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded around his chest with a golden belt,
14. and his head and hair were white like wool, white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame,
15. and his feet were like fine bronze when it has been fired in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters,
16. and he had in his right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword coming out of his mouth, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength.
17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,
18. and the one who lives, and I was dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades.