A Vision of the Risen Lord

⁹ I am John, a follower together with all of you. We suffer because Jesus is our king, but he gives us the strength to endure. I was sent to Patmos Island,^[a] because I had preached God's message and had told about Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord's day the Spirit took control of me, and behind me I heard a loud voice that sounded like a trumpet. ¹¹ The voice said, “Write in a book what you see. Then send it to the seven churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”^[b]

¹² When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. ^13 (A) There with the lampstands was someone who seemed to be the Son of Man.^[c] He was wearing a robe that reached down to his feet, and a gold cloth was wrapped around his chest.

^17 (A) When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person. But he put his right hand on me and said:

Don't be afraid! I am the first, the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. I died, but now I am alive forever, and I have the keys to death and the world of the dead.^{[a] 19} Write what you have seen and what is and what will happen after these things.