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.^[a] He was wearing a robe that reached down to his feet, and a gold cloth was wrapped around his chest. ^14 (B)(C) His head and his hair were white as wool or snow, and his eyes looked like flames of fire. ^15 (D) His feet were glowing like bronze being heated in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of a waterfall. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword was coming from his mouth. His face was shining as bright as the sun at noon.

^17 (E) 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.^{[b] 19} Write what you have seen and what is and what will happen after these things. ²⁰ I will explain the mystery of the seven stars you saw at my right side and the seven gold lampstands. The seven stars are the angels^[c] of the seven churches, and the lampstands are the seven churches.

² I noticed that the seven angels who stood before God were each given a trumpet.

^3 (A) Another angel, who had a gold container for incense,^[a] came and stood at the altar. This one was given a lot of incense to offer with the prayers of God's people on the gold altar in front of the throne. ⁴ Then the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up to God from the hand of the angel.

^5 (B) After this, the angel filled the incense container with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, and the earth shook.

The Trumpets

^6 (C) The seven angels now got ready to blow their trumpets.

^19 (A) The door to God's temple in heaven was then opened, and the sacred chest^[a] could be seen inside the temple. I saw lightning and heard roars of thunder. The earth trembled and huge hailstones fell to the ground.

^5 (A) After this, I noticed something else in heaven. The sacred tent used for a temple was open. ⁶ And the seven angels who were bringing the terrible troubles were coming out of it. They were dressed in robes of pure white linen and wore belts made of pure gold. ⁷ One of the four living creatures gave each of the seven angels a bowl made of gold. These bowls were filled with the anger of God who lives forever and ever. ^8 (B) The temple quickly filled with smoke from the glory and power of God. No one could enter it until the seven angels had finished pouring out the seven last troubles.