The Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ^2 (A)“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb ^(B)according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be ^(C)without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the ^(D)fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.^[a]

⁷ “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the ^(E)two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with ^(F)unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but ^(G)roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And ^(H)you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with ^(I)your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. ^(J)It is the Lord's Passover. ¹² For ^(K)I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on ^(L)all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: ^(M)I am the Lord. ^13 (N)The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day shall be ^(O)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a ^(P)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

Greeting to the Seven Churches

⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from ^(A)him ^(B)who is and ^(C)who was and who is to come, and from ^(D)the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ ^(E)the faithful witness, ^(F)the firstborn of the dead, and ^(G)the ruler of kings on earth.

To ^(H)him who loves us and ^(I)has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us ^(J)a kingdom, ^(K)priests to ^(L)his God and Father, to him be ^(M)glory and ^(N)dominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷ Behold, ^(O)he is coming with the clouds, and ^(P)every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail^[a] on account of him. Even so. Amen.

^8 (Q)“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, ^(R)“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹ I, John, your brother and ^(S)partner in ^(T)the tribulation and ^(U)the kingdom and ^(V)the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^(W)on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ^10 (X)I was in the Spirit ^(Y)on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^(Z)like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, ^(AA)“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw ^(AB)seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands ^(AC)one like ^(AD)a son of man, ^(AE)clothed with a long robe and ^(AF)with a golden sash around his chest. ^14 (AG)The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. ^(AH)His eyes were like a flame of fire, ^15 (AI)his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and ^(AJ)his voice was like the roar of many waters. ^16 (AK)In his right hand he held seven stars, ^(AL)from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and ^(AM)his face was like the sun shining ^(AN)in full strength.

^17 (AO)When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But ^(AP)he laid his right hand on me, ^(AQ)saying, “Fear not, ^(AR)I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. ^(AS)I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and ^(AT)I have the keys of Death and Hades.