Revelation

But the LORD replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”

Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the LORD.

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the LORD.’

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

Do not have other gods besides me.

Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

You are to labor six days and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Do not murder.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance.

“You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.”

And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

Then the LORD told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

Do not make gods of silver to rival me; do not make gods of gold for yourselves.

“Make an earthen altar for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your flocks and herds. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause my name to be remembered.

If you make a stone altar for me, do not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it.

Do not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,

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 from our sins by his blood,

and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father — to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet

saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,

and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.

The hair of his head was white as wool — white as snow  — and his eyes like a fiery flame.

His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters.

He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

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,

and the Living One. I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.

The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like pillars of fire,

and he held a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land,

and he called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he cried out, the seven thunders raised their voices.

And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down!”

Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.

He swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will no longer be a delay,

but in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet, then the mystery of God will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter.

And they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names.

The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.

One of its heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.

They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it?”

The beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies. It was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

It began to speak blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling — those who dwell in heaven.

And it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.

All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.

If anyone is to be taken captive, into captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword he will be killed. This calls for endurance and faithfulness from the saints.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

It also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people.

It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

And it makes everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,

so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.

This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns!

Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.

She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.