Book of Common Prayer

⁹ I am John, your brother. I belong to Jesus and I am having big trouble just as you are. I also belong to his kingdom and I wait patiently for it. I was on an island called Patmos because I told the word of God and talked about Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Behind me I heard a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet or horn.

¹¹ The voice said, `Write what you see in a book. Send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.'

¹² I turned to see who was talking to me. I saw seven gold lamps.

¹³ In the centre of the seven lamps I saw someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long gown with a wide, gold belt around his chest.

¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like sheep's hair, white as snow. His eyes shone like a flame of fire.

¹⁵ His feet shone like fine brass that has been made pure by fire. His voice was like the sound of much water flowing.

¹⁶ In his right hand he had seven stars. Out of his mouth came a long knife or sword, sharp on both sides. His face shone like the sun when it is shining very brightly.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down in front of him as if I had died. He put his right hand on me and said, `Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.

¹⁸ I am he who lives. I died. But look, I am alive for ever. I have the keys to death and to the world of the dead.

¹⁹ So write what you have seen. Write the things that are now and the things that will happen after them.

²⁰ You saw seven stars in my right hand. I will tell you the secret meaning of them and of the seven gold lamps. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The seven lamps are the seven churches.

⁵³ Then every one of them went home.

8 Then Jesus went to the hill called the Mount of Olives.

² Early the next morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.

³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus. They had caught her having sex with a man who was not her husband. They made the woman stand in front of them.

⁴ They said, `Teacher, this woman has committed adultery. She was caught doing it.

⁵ The law of Moses tells us that the people who do that should be killed with stones. What do you say?'

⁶ They said this to see what Jesus would do, because they wanted to find something wrong with him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

⁷ They kept on asking him. He stood up and said to them, `The one among you who has never done any wrong thing may throw the first stone at her.'

⁸ And Jesus bent down again and wrote on the ground.

⁹ When the people heard what he said, they went out, one by one. The oldest one went out first. Jesus was left alone with the woman in front of him.

¹⁰ Jesus looked up and said to her, `Woman, where are the people? Has no one judged you?'

¹¹ She said, `No one, Sir.' Jesus said, `I also do not judge you. Go, and do no wrong thing again.'