Revelation 1
The full text of Revelation 1 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
2 who testified to everything he saw — the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.
4 John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,
5 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 freed us from our sins by his blood,
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
7 Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.
So it is to be. Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11 saying, "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12 I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 The hair of his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.
15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
18 the Living One. I was dead, and look — I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19 Write, then, what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place after this.
20 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.
Translation notes (12)
- Revelation 1:1a Apokalypsis Iesou Christou, 'revelation of Jesus Christ' (ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ), can be read as a subjective or objective genitive (from Jesus and about Jesus). En tachei, 'soon/quickly' (ἐν τάχει), may denote either imminence or swiftness. Esēmanen, 'signified' (ἐσήμανεν), suggests communication by signs and is rendered here as 'made it known'.
- Revelation 1:4a The Greek phrase ho ōn kai ho ēn kai ho erchomenos, 'he who is, and who was, and who is to come', stands in the nominative case even though the preposition apo, 'from', requires the genitive. The grammatical anomaly appears deliberate: the title is treated as an indeclinable divine name, echoing the Septuagint of Exodus 3:14, where God declares himself ho ōn, 'the one who is'.
- Revelation 1:5a Instead of 'Freed,' some manuscripts read 'washed us from our sins.' This difference comes from a single letter change in the Greek words lysanti and lousanti.
- Revelation 1:7a This verse fuses Daniel 7:13 (coming with the clouds) with Zechariah 12:10 (looking on the pierced one and mourning). The Greek exekentesan, 'they pierced', follows the Hebrew of Zechariah rather than the Septuagint, which reads 'mocked'. The verb kopsontai, 'will mourn', literally means to beat the breast in lamentation.
- Revelation 1:8a Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, forming a merism for totality: God encompasses all things from beginning to end. The title pantokratōr, 'the Almighty', is the Septuagint's customary rendering of the Hebrew divine title tsevaot, 'of hosts', while the threefold formula 'who is, and who was, and who is to come' echoes the divine name of Exodus 3:14.
- Revelation 1:9a Synkoinonos, 'partner', and thlipsis, 'tribulation', highlight shared experience with hypomone, 'patient endurance', en Iesou, 'in Jesus'. Patmos was used by Roman authorities for banishment. Dia with the accusative signals cause, 'because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus'.
- Revelation 1:10a egenomēn en pneumati, 'I was in the Spirit', is a conventional expression for prophetic ecstasy. kyriake hemera, 'the Lord's Day', is the earliest extant Christian use of this term and most likely denotes the first day of the week, distinct from hemera kyriou, 'the day of the Lord'. The simile hos salpingos, 'like a trumpet', evokes a theophanic summons.
- Revelation 1:11a Some later manuscripts begin with the words: 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. Write...' However, the earliest manuscripts omit these words.
- Revelation 1:13a Greek homoion huion anthropou, 'one like a son of man', lacks the article and echoes the Septuagint of Daniel 7:13, where a human-like figure approaches the Ancient of Days. The word podere, 'a robe reaching to the feet', is used in the Septuagint for the high priest's garment (Exodus 28:4), suggesting priestly as well as royal dignity.
- Revelation 1:14a The imagery recalls Daniel 7:9 and 10:6, where the Ancient of Days and a glorious man show similar traits. The Greek hos erion leukon, 'like white wool', hos chion, 'like snow', and hoi ophthalmoi hos phlox pyros, 'eyes like a flame of fire', echo the Septuagint, applying divine, theophanic descriptors to the exalted Son of Man.
- Revelation 1:18a The title ho zon, 'the Living One', recalls a divine self-designation; egenomēn nekros is literally 'I became dead'. The imagery of kleis, 'keys', evokes Isaiah 22:22, where authority is vested by a key. hades, 'Hades', denotes the realm of the dead and is the usual Septuagint term for Hebrew sheol.
- Revelation 1:20a Greek angeloi (ἄγγελοι), 'angels', can also mean human 'messengers', as in Luke 7:24, where the same word describes envoys sent by John the Baptist. Some interpreters therefore take the angels of the seven churches to be their human leaders or emissaries; the rendering 'angels' preserves the word's usual sense in Revelation without excluding that possibility.
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