8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”
9 I, John, your brother, who share with you the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we have in Jesus, found myself on the island called Patmos because I proclaimed God’s word and gave testimony to Jesus.
10 I was caught up in spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet,
11 which said, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands
13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.
14 The hair of his head was as white as white wool or as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame.