Add parallel Print Page Options

The Letter to Sardis

This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Sardis:

I have the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Listen to what I say.

I know what you are doing. Everyone may think you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up! You have only a little strength left, and it is almost gone. So try to become stronger. I have found that you are not completely obeying God. (A) Remember the teaching you were given and heard. Hold firmly to it and turn from your sins. If you don't wake up, I will come when you least expect it, just as a thief does.

A few of you in Sardis have not dirtied your clothes with sin. You will walk with me in white clothes, because you are worthy. (B) Everyone who wins the victory will wear white clothes. Their names will not be erased from the book of life,[a] and I will tell my Father and his angels that they are my followers.

If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

The Letter to Philadelphia

(C) This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:

I am the one who is holy and true, and I have the keys that belonged to David.[b] When I open a door, no one can close it. And when I close a door, no one can open it. Listen to what I say.

I know everything you have done. And I have placed before you an open door no one can close. You were not very strong, but you obeyed my message and did not deny you are my followers.[c] (D) Now you will see what I will do with those people who belong to Satan's group. They claim to be God's people, but they are liars. I will make them come and kneel down at your feet. Then they will know that I love you.

10 You obeyed my message and endured. So I will protect you from the time of testing everyone in all the world must go through. 11 I am coming soon. So hold firmly to what you have, and no one will take away the crown you will be given as your reward.

12 (E) Everyone who wins the victory will be made into a pillar in the temple of my God, and they will stay there forever. I will write on each of them the name of my God and the name of his city. It is the new Jerusalem my God will send down from heaven. I will also write on them my own new name.

13 If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

The Letter to Laodicea

14 (F) This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Laodicea:

I am the one called Amen![d] I am the faithful and true witness and the source[e] of God's creation. Listen to what I say.

15 I know everything you have done, and you are not cold or hot. I wish you were either one or the other. 16 But since you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 You claim to be rich and successful and to have everything you need. But you don't know how bad off you really are. You are pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

18 Buy your gold from me. It has been refined in a fire, and it will make you rich. Buy white clothes from me. Wear them and you can cover up your shameful nakedness. Buy medicine for your eyes, so you will be able to see.

19 (G) I correct and punish everyone I love. So make up your minds to turn away from your sins. 20 Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together. 21 Everyone who wins the victory will sit with me on my throne, just as I won the victory and sat with my Father on his throne.

22 If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Footnotes

  1. 3.5 book of life: The book in which the names of God's people are written.
  2. 3.7 the keys that belonged to David: The keys stand for authority over David's kingdom.
  3. 3.8 did not deny you are my followers: Or “did not say evil things about me.”
  4. 3.14 Amen: Meaning “Trustworthy.”
  5. 3.14 source: Or “beginning.”

And to the messenger of the assembly in Sardis write: These things saith he who is having the Seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I have known thy works, and that thou hast the name that thou dost live, and thou art dead;

become watching, and strengthen the rest of the things that are about to die, for I have not found thy works fulfilled before God.

`Remember, then, how thou hast received, and heard, and be keeping, and reform: if, then, thou mayest not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou mayest not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis who did not defile their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy.

He who is overcoming -- this one -- shall be arrayed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the scroll of the life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before His messengers.

He who is having an ear -- let him hear what the Spirit saith to the assemblies.

`And to the messenger of the assembly in Philadelphia write: These things saith he who is holy, he who is true, he who is having the key of David, he who is opening and no one doth shut, and he shutteth and no one doth open!

I have known thy works; lo, I have set before thee a door -- opened, and no one is able to shut it, because thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name;

lo, I make of the synagogue of the Adversary those saying themselves to be Jews, and are not, but do lie; lo, I will make them that they may come and bow before thy feet, and may know that I loved thee.

10 `Because thou didst keep the word of my endurance, I also will keep thee from the hour of the trial that is about to come upon all the world, to try those dwelling upon the earth.

11 Lo, I come quickly, be holding fast that which thou hast, that no one may receive thy crown.

12 He who is overcoming -- I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and without he may not go any more, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, that doth come down out of the heaven from my God -- also my new name.

13 He who is having an ear -- let him hear what the Spirit saith to the assemblies.

14 `And to the messenger of the assembly of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the witness -- the faithful and true -- the chief of the creation of God;

15 I have known thy works, that neither cold art thou nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot.

16 So -- because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth;

17 because thou sayest -- I am rich, and have grown rich, and have need of nothing, and hast not known that thou art the wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked,

18 I counsel thee to buy from me gold fired by fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white garments that thou mayest be arrayed, and the shame of thy nakedness may not be manifest, and with eye-salve anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.

19 `As many as I love, I do convict and chasten; be zealous, then, and reform;

20 lo, I have stood at the door, and I knock; if any one may hear my voice, and may open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

21 He who is overcoming -- I will give to him to sit with me in my throne, as I also did overcome and did sit down with my Father in His throne.

22 He who is having an ear -- let him hear what the Spirit saith to the assemblies.'