Revelation 1
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Prologue
1 The revelation of[a] Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves(A) what must quickly[b] take place.(B) He sent it and signified it[c] through His angel(C) to His slave John,(D) 2 who testified to God’s word and to the testimony[d] about Jesus Christ,(E) in all he saw.[e] 3 The one who reads this is blessed,(F) and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep[f] what is written in it are blessed, because the time is near!
4 John:
To the seven churches in Asia.
Grace and peace(G) to you from[g] the One who is, who was, and who is coming;(H) from the seven spirits[h](I) before His throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To Him who loves us and has set us free[i] from our sins by His blood, 6 and made us a kingdom,[j] priests[k](J) to His God and Father—the glory and dominion are His forever and ever. Amen.
7 Look! He is coming with the clouds,(K)
and every eye will see Him,
including those who pierced[l] Him.
And all the families of the earth[m](L)[n]
will mourn over Him.[o](M)[p]
This is certain. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”(N) says the Lord God, “the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”
John’s Vision of the Risen Lord
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony about Jesus.[q](O) 10 I was in the Spirit[r][s](P) on the Lord’s day,[t] and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write on a scroll[u] what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see whose voice(Q) it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man,[v](R) dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool—white as snow—and His eyes like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading[w] waters.(S) 16 He had seven stars in His right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth,(T) and His face was shining like the sun at midday.[x]
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last,(U) 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. 20 The secret of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven gold lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[y] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands[z] are the seven churches.
Footnotes
- Revelation 1:1 Or Revelation of, or A revelation of
- Revelation 1:1 Or soon
- Revelation 1:1 Made it known through symbols
- Revelation 1:2 Or witness
- Revelation 1:2 Lit as many as he saw
- Revelation 1:3 Or follow, or obey
- Revelation 1:4 Other mss add God
- Revelation 1:4 Or the sevenfold Spirit
- Revelation 1:5 Other mss read has washed us
- Revelation 1:6 Other mss read kings and
- Revelation 1:6 Or made us into (or to be) a kingdom of priests; Ex 19:6
- Revelation 1:7 Or impaled
- Revelation 1:7 Or all the tribes of the land
- Revelation 1:7 Gn 12:3; 28:14; Zch 14:17
- Revelation 1:7 Or will wail because of Him
- Revelation 1:7 Dn 7:13; Zch 12:10
- Revelation 1:9 Lit the witness of Jesus
- Revelation 1:10 Or in spirit; lit I became in the Spirit
- Revelation 1:10 John was brought by God’s Spirit into a realm of spiritual vision.
- Revelation 1:10 Sunday
- Revelation 1:11 Or book
- Revelation 1:13 Or like a son of man
- Revelation 1:15 Lit many
- Revelation 1:16 Lit like the sun shines in its power
- Revelation 1:20 Or messengers
- Revelation 1:20 Other mss add that you saw
Revelation 1
The Message
1 1-2 A revealing of Jesus, the Messiah. God gave it to make plain to his servants what is about to happen. He published and delivered it by Angel to his servant John. And John told everything he saw: God’s Word—the witness of Jesus Christ!
3 How blessed the reader! How blessed the hearers and keepers of these oracle words, all the words written in this book!
Time is just about up.
His Eyes Pouring Fire-Blaze
4-7 I, John, am writing this to the seven churches in Asia province: All the best to you from The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive, and from the Seven Spirits assembled before his throne, and from Jesus Christ—Loyal Witness, Firstborn from the dead, Ruler of all earthly kings.
Glory and strength to Christ, who loves us,
who blood-washed our sins from our lives,
Who made us a Kingdom, Priests for his Father,
forever—and yes, he’s on his way!
Riding the clouds, he’ll be seen by every eye,
those who mocked and killed him will see him,
People from all nations and all times
will tear their clothes in lament.
Oh, Yes.
8 The Master declares, “I’m A to Z. I’m The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive. I’m the Sovereign-Strong.”
9-17 I, John, with you all the way in the trial and the Kingdom and the passion of patience in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s Word, the witness of Jesus. It was Sunday and I was in the Spirit, praying. I heard a loud voice behind me, trumpet-clear and piercing: “Write what you see into a book. Send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.” I turned and saw the voice.
I saw a gold menorah
with seven branches,
And in the center, the Son of Man,
in a robe and gold breastplate,
hair a blizzard of white,
Eyes pouring fire-blaze,
both feet furnace-fired bronze,
His voice a roar,
right hand holding the Seven Stars,
His mouth a sharp-biting sword,
his face a blinding sun.
I saw this and fainted dead at his feet. His right hand pulled me upright, his voice reassured me:
17-20 “Don’t fear: I am First, I am Last, I’m Alive. I died, but I came to life, and my life is now forever. See these keys in my hand? They open and lock Death’s doors, they open and lock Hell’s gates. Now write down everything you see: things that are, things about to be. The Seven Stars you saw in my right hand and the seven-branched gold menorah—do you want to know what’s behind them? The Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches; the menorah’s seven branches are the seven churches.”
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson