To the Church in Ephesus

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds ^lthe seven stars in his right hand, ^mwho walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and ⁿyou have ^onot grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; ^prepent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the ^qNicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 ^rHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the ^stree of life, which is in the ^tparadise of God.’

To the Church in Smyrna

8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of ^uthe first and the last, who ^vdied and came to life.

9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are ^wrich) and the slander¹ of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a ^xsynagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the ^ydevil is about to throw some of you into ^zprison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have ^atribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the ^bcrown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by ^cthe second death.’

To the Church in Pergamum

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp ^dtwo-edged sword.

13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith² even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold ^ethe teaching of ^fBalaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to ^gidols and practice ^hsexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them ⁱwith the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden ^jmanna, and I will give him a white stone, with a ^knew name written on the stone ^lthat no one knows except the one who receives it.’

To the Church in Thyatira

18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, ^mwho has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like ⁿburnished bronze.

19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman ^oJezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she ^prefuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and ^qthose who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who ^rsearches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only ^shold fast what you have ^tuntil I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him ^uI will give ^vauthority over the nations, 27 and ^whe will rule³ them ^xwith a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received ^yauthority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the ^zmorning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

To the Church in Sardis

1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has ^athe seven spirits of God and ^bthe seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and ^crepent. If you will not wake up, I will come ^dlike a thief, and ^eyou will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not ^fsoiled their garments, and they will walk with me in ^gwhite, for they are ^hworthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the ⁱbook of life. I will ^jconfess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

To the Church in Philadelphia

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the ^ktrue one, who has the ^lkey of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have ^mkept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the ⁿsynagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and ^obow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have ^ploved you. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 ^qI am coming soon. ^rHold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your ^scrown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will ^twrite on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, ^uthe new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own ^vnew name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

To the Church in Laodicea

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the ^wfaithful and true witness, ^xthe beginning of God’s creation.

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ^y“I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to ^zbuy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself ^aand the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 ^bThose whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, ^cI will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, ^dI will grant him to ^esit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

The First Beast

1 And I saw a beast rising ^qout of the sea, with ten horns and ^rseven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was ^slike a leopard; its feet were ^tlike a bear’s, and its mouth was ^ulike a lion’s mouth. And to it the ^vdragon gave his power and ^whis throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth ^xmarveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they ^yworshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ^z“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given ^aa mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for ^bforty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,¹ that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed ^cto make war on the saints and to ^dconquer them.² And authority was given it over every ^etribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the ^fbook of life of the ^gLamb who was slain. 9 If anyone has an ^hear, let him hear:

^jHere is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and ^kit spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,³ and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great ^lsigns, even making fire ^mcome down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of⁴ the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not ⁿworship the image of the beast ^oto be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,⁵ to be marked on the right hand or the ^pforehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has ^qthe mark, that is, the name of the beast or ^rthe number of its name. 18 ^sThis calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.⁶

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

1 Then one of the ^wseven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the ^xgreat prostitute ^ywho is seated on many waters, 2 ^zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the ^awine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he ^bcarried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of ^cblasphemous names, and it had ^dseven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed ^ein purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a ^fgolden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her ^gforehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, ^hdrunk with the ⁱblood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.¹

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw ^jwas, and is not, and is about to ^krise from the bottomless pit² and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the ^lbook of life from the foundation of the world will ^mmarvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 ⁿThis calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And ^othe ten horns that you saw are ten ^pkings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the ^qLamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is ^rLord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

15 And the angel³ said to me, “The waters that you saw, ^swhere the prostitute is seated, are ^tpeoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is ^uthe great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

The Fall of Babylon

1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, ^vand the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

9 ^jAnd the kings of the earth, ^kwho committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.⁵

15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

^mAnd all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,

19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and ^othrew it into the sea, saying,