8. I AM the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end, saith the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
9. I John, your brother and participant in the tribulation and in the kingdom and in the patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10. I was in the Spirit in the day of the Lord and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet,
11. that said, I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and What thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} which are in Asia: unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea.
12. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands
13. and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle.
14. His head and his hairs were white like white wool, as the snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire
15. and his feet like unto brilliant metal as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword, and his countenance was as the sun when it shines in its strength.