Revelation 1
1 [The] revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show to his slaves what [things] must swiftly come to pass, and he communicated [it], having sent [it] through his angel to his slave John, 2 who testified of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as much as he saw. 3 Blessed [is] the [one] reading and those hearing the words of [this] prophecy and keeping the [things] written in it, for the opportune-time1 [is] near. 4 John to the seven assemblies2 in Asia: grace to you and peace from the [one who] is and [who] was and [who] comes, and from the seven spirits which [are] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the trustworthy witness, the first-born of the dead and the ruler of the kingdoms of the land. To the [one] agape-loving us and having washed us from our sins in his blood, 6 and [who] made us kings, priests to his God and father, to him [be] the glory and the strength to the eternity of eternities, Amen.7 Behold he comes with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the land will mourn upon him, yes, Amen. 8 I am the "A" and the "Z"3, says the Lord God, the [one who] is and [who] was and [who] comes, the almighty.
9 I John, your brother and partner in the distress and kingdom and endurance of Jesus, came to be in the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I came to be in [the] spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me [a] great voice as [a] trumpet 11 saying: What you see, write in [a] scroll and send [it] to the seven assemblies2 in Ephesus and in Smyrna and in Pergamon and in Thyatira and in Sardis and in Philadelphia and in Laodecia. 12 And I turned to be seeing the voice which spoke with me, and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands [one] like [the] son of man, clothed to [his] feet and girded around the breasts with [a] golden girdle. 14 And his head and his hair [were] white as wool, white as snow, and his eyes [were] as [a] flame of fire, 15 and his feet like fine-brass as fired in a furnace, and his voice [was] as the voice of many waters, 16 and [he was] having in [his] right hand seven stars, and from his mouth [was] proceeding [a] sharp two-edged broad-sword, and his face shines as the sun in its power. 17 And when I saw him, I fell before his feet as dead, and he placed his right hand upon me saying: Be not fearing, I am the first and the last, 18 and the zoe-living4 , and I became dead and behold I am zoe-living4 to the eternity of eternities, and I have the keys of death and of Hades5 . 19 Write therefore what you saw and what is and what is [about] to come to pass after these [things]. 20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven lampstands of gold: The seven stars are [the] angels of the seven assemblies2, and the lampstands are the seven churches.
1KAIROS (καιρoς ) `opportune time', `proper time', `season'
2EKKLESIA (εκκλησια) from "called out". Appears 114 times in the N.T., but only in two places in the Gospels ( Matt.16:18 (twice) and Matt.18:17 (twice)). It's worth noting that when Jesus uses the term EKKLESIA, Christian community as we know it didn't yet exist—there were only the disciples. EKKLESIA is apparently different from 'synagogue' (SYNAGOGE (συναγωγη) which occurs 56 times in the N.T.) EKKLESIA is used in secular Greek literature of a popular assembly 'called to assemble', and also of those 'called' to a cult. EKKLESIA is used frequently in the N.T. outside of the Gospels to refer to Christian communities, but in Acts.7:38 it is used of the people of Israel led through the desert by Moses, and in Acts.19:32 ff. of a secular assembly. Thus, all told, the common translation of EKKLESIA as 'church' doesn't really reflect 1st century usage—it seems to mean more like 'a group of people assembled for some specific purpose'.
3literally "the Alpha and the Omega"—the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet
4from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.
5"Hades" (αδης ), the Greek underworld.