Greetings

¹ This letter is from John, the elder.^[a]

I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.

² Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. ³ Some of the traveling teachers^[b] recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth. ⁴ I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.

Caring for the Lord’s Workers

⁵ Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. ⁶ They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. ⁷ For they are traveling for the Lord,^[c] and they accept nothing from people who are not believers.^{[d] 8} So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

⁹ I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. ¹⁰ When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.

¹¹ Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.^[e]

¹² Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius, as does the truth itself. We ourselves can say the same for him, and you know we speak the truth.

Conclusion

¹³ I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to write it with pen and ink. ¹⁴ For I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face.

^15 [f]Peace be with you.

Your friends here send you their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there.

Prologue

1 This is a revelation from^[a] Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon^[b] take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, ² who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

³ God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.

John’s Greeting to the Seven Churches

⁴ This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia.^[c]

Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit^[d] before his throne; ⁵ and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. ⁶ He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,”^[e] says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹ I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. ¹⁰ It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit.^[f] Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. ¹¹ It said, “Write in a book^[g] everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. ¹³ And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man.^[h] He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.^[i]

¹⁹ “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.^{[j] 20} This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels^[k] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The Message to the Church in Ephesus

2 “Write this letter to the angel^[l] of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:

The Message to the Church in Smyrna

⁸ “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive:

The Message to the Church in Pergamum

¹² “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:

The Message to the Church in Thyatira

¹⁸ “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze:

The Message to the Church in Sardis

3 “Write this letter to the angel^[p] of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit^[q] of God and the seven stars:

The Message to the Church in Philadelphia

⁷ “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

The Message to the Church in Laodicea

¹⁴ “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning^[t] of God’s new creation:

Worship in Heaven

4 Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” ² And instantly I was in the Spirit,^[u] and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. ³ The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. ⁴ Twenty-four thrones surrounded him, and twenty-four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crowns on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit^[v] of God. ⁶ In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. ⁷ The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. ⁸ Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,

⁹ Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,

The Lamb Opens the Scroll

5 Then I saw a scroll^[w] in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. ² And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it.

⁴ Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. ⁵ But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne,^[x] has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit^[y] of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. ⁷ He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. ⁸ And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. ⁹ And they sang a new song with these words:

¹¹ Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. ¹² And they sang in a mighty chorus:

¹³ And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:

¹⁴ And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.