The New Testament

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Revelation 1

1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his slaves what must happen soon. He made it known by sending his angel to his slave John, 2who testified to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ—everything he saw. 3Blessed is the one who reads aloud and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

4John, to the seven assemblies in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood—6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.

7Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes, amen. 8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, the one who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.

9I, John, your brother and fellow sharer in the affliction and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11saying, “Write what you see in a scroll and send it to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

12I turned to see the voice speaking with me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching his feet, with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. 15His feet were like burnished bronze, as though refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. 16He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp, two-edged sword came out of his mouth. His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and Hades. 19So write what you saw, what is, and what is going to happen after these things. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies, and the seven lampstands are seven assemblies.”

Translation notes 6

1:1–3 — Revelation and nearness. “Revelation of Jesus Christ” can describe a revelation from him and about him; the wording leaves both possible. “Soon” and “near” preserve the opening's urgency without supplying a timetable. “Aloud” makes explicit the setting suggested by one reader and multiple hearers.

1:4 — Asia and seven spirits. Asia is the Roman province in western Asia Minor. The seven spirits may portray the fullness of God's Spirit or seven heavenly spirits; the text does not explain the number here. The Greek gives the divine “one who is” title an unusual, unchanged grammatical form after “from.”

1:5–6 — Freed and kingdom. The Greek base reads “freed,” with “washed” as a textual alternative. It says “a kingdom, priests,” not “kings and priests.” Jesus' God and Father is explicitly named as such.

1:8, 10, 13–15 — Vision language. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. “In the Spirit” describes the visionary experience. “The Lord's day” most naturally refers to the Christian day of worship, though identification with the day of judgment has been proposed. “A son of man” preserves the human figure and the echo of Daniel 7. The precise alloy called “burnished bronze” is uncertain.

1:18 — Hades. Hades is the realm of the dead. The KJV uses “hell” here; the NET uses “Hades.” Keeping Hades distinguishes it from Gehenna and from this book's lake of fire, into which death and Hades themselves are thrown in 20:14. The keys portray authority over death's domain.

1:19–20 — What is and the angels. “What is” may mean present realities or what the visions signify; it need not establish a rigid three-part outline. “Angels” can also mean messengers. Heavenly representatives are plausible in this vision, but human messengers have also been proposed.