and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.

In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

To the Church in Ephesus

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.

The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

The Scroll and the Lamb

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.

He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.

from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.

And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.

He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,

Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.

Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,

This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.