ABU(i)
1 THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show to his servants what things must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John;
2 who testified of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, of whatever things he saw.
3 Happy he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things written therein; for the time is at hand.
4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits that are before his throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to God and his Father, to him be the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he comes amidst the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
9 I, John, your brother, and partner with you in the affliction, and kingdom, and patient endurance in Jesus, was in the island called Patmos, on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day; and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
11 saying: What thou seest, write in a book, and send to the seven churches; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lamp-stands;
13 and in the midst of the lamp-stands one like to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment falling down to the feet, and girded round at the breasts with a golden girdle.
14 But his head and his hairs were white, as white wool, as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 and his feet were like to burnished brass, as if burning in a furnace; and his voice was as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand on me, saying: Fear not: I am the first and the last,
18 and the living one; and I became dead, and behold I am alive forevermore; and I have the keys of death and of the underworld.
19 Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall be after these;
20 the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest on my right hand, and the seven golden lamp-stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches.