Revelation

¹		�pok�luci``w -- apocalypse, revelation
		�ggelow -- messenger, angel
²		martur�v -- to be a witness, to bear witness, to testify, to confirm, to be a martyr. Strictly speaking this is a relative clause and should be translated as "who witnessed." It has been transformed into a personal pronoun in stylistic interests.
		martur�a -- testifying, testimony, attestation, martyrdom.
³		�nagin�skv n, present active masculine nominative singular participle of�nagin�skv -- to read [aloud].
		o� �ko�ontew In keeping with the understanding of "the one who reads aloud" as the lector, I have chosen to render "those who hear" as the congregation.
		�gg�w literally "near."
8		Virtually everyone is aware that "Alpha" and "Omega" are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Yet it should be mentioned in case someone should not know.
¹⁰		Literally "fell into a spiritual [state]" (a trance). See R.H. Charles, The Revelation According to St. John, vol. 1, p. 22 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1920).

� gfsomsel, 1999
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¹		The revelation from Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his servants what things are about to happen quickly. He announced it by sending it through his messenger to his servant John.
²		He was a witness to the Word of God, even the martyrdom of Jesus Christ which he saw.
³		Blessed is the lector and the congregation who hears the words of this prophecy and observes the things which are written in it for the time is upon us.
⁴		John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is yet to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne
⁵		and from Jesus Christ, the faithful martyr, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and looses us from our sins through his blood
⁶		and made us a kingdom, priests to God his father, to him be glory forever [and ever]. Amen.
⁷		Watch, he is coming on the clouds. Every eye will see him, Even those who pierced him. All the nations of the earth shall mourn for him. Yes, Amen!

⁸		"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is yet to come, the Almighty.
⁹		I, John, your brother and companion in the trials of the kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony regarding Jesus.
¹⁰		I was in meditation on the Lord�s Day when I heard a loud voice like a trumpet behind me
¹¹		saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches: To Ephesus and Smyrna, to Pergamum and Tyatira, to Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea."
¹²		I turned to see [the source of] the voice which spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lamps.
¹³		Before the lamps was a man robed down to his feet and belted with a golden sash across his chest.
¹⁴		His head, that is, his hair was white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a blazing fire
¹⁵		His feet were like refined brass, and his voice was like the roar of rushing water.
¹⁶		In his right hand he held seven stars and from his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His appearance was like the sun at high noon.
¹⁷		When I saw him I fell at his feet like a dead man, but he put his right hand upon me saying, "Don�t be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
¹⁸		the living one, though I was dead yet, see, I am living forever and ever. I have the keys of death and of Hades.
¹⁹		Write what you saw, both what is and is about to happen after these things.
²⁰		The secret of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lamps. The seven stars are the seven messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamps are the seven churches."

The Apocalypse

Chapter 1