Prologue

¹This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must sooncome to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,

²who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

³Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near.

John Greets the Seven Churches

⁴John,To the seven churches in the province of Asia:Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven spiritsbefore His throne,

⁵and 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 released us from our sins by His blood,

⁶who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

⁷Behold, 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 because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.

John’s Vision on Patmos

⁹I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus.

¹⁰On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

¹¹saying,“Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,

¹³and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man,dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest.

¹⁴The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire.

¹⁵His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.

¹⁶He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

¹⁷When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

¹⁸the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

¹⁹Therefore write down the things you have seen, the things that are, and the things that will happen after this.

²⁰This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Alive with Christ

¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

²in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

³All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!

⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

⁷in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,

⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

One in Christ

¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—

¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility

¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

¹⁶and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.

¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

¹⁸For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Christ Our Cornerstone

¹⁹Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

²¹In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

²²And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

Absent in Body, Present in Spirit

¹For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face,

²that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,

³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.

⁵For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.

Alive with Christ

⁶Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,

⁷rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

¹⁰And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

¹¹In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christand not by human hands.

¹²And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.

¹³When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,

¹⁴having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

¹⁶Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

¹⁷These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

¹⁸Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.

¹⁹He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁰If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:

²¹“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?

²²These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

²³Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Do Not Envy

Saying 20

¹Do not envy wicked menor desire their company;

²for their hearts devise violence,and their lips declare trouble.

Saying 21

³By wisdom a house is builtand by understanding it is established;

⁴through knowledge its rooms are filledwith every precious and beautiful treasure.

Saying 22

⁵A wise man is strong,and a man of knowledge enhances his strength.

⁶Only with sound guidance should you wage war,and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.

Saying 23

⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool;he does not open his mouth in the meeting place.

Saying 24

⁸He who plots evilwill be called a schemer.

⁹A foolish scheme is sin,and a mocker is detestable to men.

Saying 25

¹⁰If you faint in the day of distress,how small is your strength!

¹¹Rescue those being led away to death,and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,”does not He who weighs hearts consider it?Does not the One who guards your life know?Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?

Saying 26

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good,and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul.If you find it, there is a future for you,and your hope will never be cut off.

Saying 27

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, near the dwelling of the righteous;do not destroy his resting place.

¹⁶For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up;but the wicked stumble in bad times.

Saying 28

¹⁷Do not gloat when your enemy falls,and do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸or the LORD will see and disapprove,and turn His wrath away from him.

Saying 29

¹⁹Do not fret over evildoers,and do not be envious of the wicked.

²⁰For the evil man has no future;the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.

Saying 30

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king,and do not associate with the rebellious.

²²For they will bring sudden destruction.Who knows what ruin they can bring?

Further Sayings of the Wise

²³These also are sayings of the wise:To show partiality in judgmentis not good.

²⁴Whoever tells the guilty, “You are innocent”—peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

²⁵but it will go well with those who convict the guilty,and rich blessing will come upon them.

²⁶An honest answer givenis like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Complete your outdoor work and prepare your field;after that, you may build your house.

²⁸Do not testify against your neighbor without cause,and do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;I will repay the man according to his work.”

³⁰I went past the field of a slackerand by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.

³¹Thorns had grown up everywhere,thistles had covered the ground,and the stone wall was broken down.

³²I observed and took it to heart;I looked and received instruction:

³³A little sleep, a little slumber,a little folding of the hands to rest,

³⁴and poverty will come upon you like a robber,and need like a bandit.