Revelation 1 - Easy To Read Version

¹ This is the revelation {\cf2\super [1]} of Jesus Christ. God gave Jesus these things to show his servants what must happen soon. Christ sent his angel to show these things to his servant John.

² John has told everything that he saw. It is the truth that Jesus Christ told him; it is the message from God.

³ The person that reads the words of this message from God is blessed (happy). And the people who hear this message and do the things that are written in it are blessed. There is not much time left.

⁴ From John,

⁵ and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful witness. He was first among those to be raised from death. Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

⁶ Jesus made us to be a kingdom. He made us to be priests who serve God his Father. To Jesus be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. {\cf2\super [3]}

⁷ Look, Jesus is coming with the clouds! Every person will see him, even the people who pierced {\cf2\super [4]} him. All people of the earth will cry loudly because of him. Yes, this will happen! Amen. {\cf2\super [5]}

⁸ The Lord God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega. {\cf2\super [6]} I am the One who is, who \{always\} was, and who is coming. I am the All-Powerful.”

⁹ I am John, and I am your brother \{in Christ\}. We are together in Jesus, and we share these things: suffering, the kingdom, and patient endurance. I was on the island of Patmos {\cf2\super [7]} because I was faithful to God’s message {\cf2\super [8]} and to the truth of Jesus.

¹⁰ On the Lord’s day the Spirit {\cf2\super [9]} took control of me. I heard a loud voice behind me. It sounded like a trumpet.

¹¹ The voice said, “Write in a book all these things you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.

¹³ I saw someone among the lampstands who was “like a Son of Man.” {\cf2\super [10]} He was dressed in a long robe. He had a golden sash (belt) tied around his chest.

¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool—wool that is white as snow. His eyes were like flames of fire.

¹⁵ His feet were like brass that glows hot in a furnace. His voice was like the noise of flooding water.

¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last.

¹⁸ I am the One who lives. I was dead, but look: I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. {\cf2\super [11]}

¹⁹ So write the things you see. Write the things that happen now and the things that will happen later.

²⁰ Here is the hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands that you saw: The seven lampstands are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.