The message to the congregation in Ephesus
1‘You must write to the angel of the congregation in the city of Ephesus and tell him:
The One who holds the 7 stars in his right hand, and who walks among the 7 golden lamps, says: 2“I know everything that you do. I know you are working hard for Me and you are patient when people do bad things to you. I know that you do not like bad people. Some of the people with you say they are apostles, but they are not apostles. You have tested them and have seen that they are false. 3You keep on serving God and you suffer because you belong to Me, but you do not stop. You do not get tired of suffering for Me. 4But you have disappointed Me. In the beginning you loved Me a lot, but now you do not love Me as much as you did in the beginning. 5You must think about how much you have failed. Come back to Me and live again as I want you to live, and do the things again that you did when you started to believe in Me. If you don't do this, I will come and I will take your lamp away from its place. Yes, you must live again as I want you to live. 6But there is one thing that you are doing right. You hate the things that the Nicolaitans do. I also hate these things.
7If you understand what the Spirit says to the congregations, then you must obey Him. If you win against Satan and keep on believing, then I will give you the fruit of the tree_of_life, the tree in the garden of God.” ’
The message to the congregation in Smyrna
8‘You must write to the angel of the congregation in the town of Smyrna. Tell him:
The One who is the First and the Last, He who was dead but is alive again, says: 9“I know you are suffering and you are poor, because you have little money. But I say you are rich because you belong to Me. I know that the Jews say bad things about you, but they are not_really Jews. They come together in a synagogue, but it is the synagogue of Satan. 10You will suffer, but you must not be afraid. The devil will make some of you go to jail. Then everyone will see if you can keep on believing. Yes, you will suffer for 10 days, but you must keep on believing, even if people want to kill you. If they kill you, I will make you live again. Your new life will be like a laurel-crown on your head.
11If you understand what the Spirit says to the congregations, then you must obey Him. If you win against Satan and keep on believing, then you will not die the 2nd_death.” ’
The message to the congregation in Pergamum
12‘You must write to the angel of the congregation in the town of Pergamum. Tell him:
The One who has the sword which is sharp on both sides says: 13“I know where you live. Satan's throne is there near you, but you keep on believing in Me. Yes, Satan lives there with you. And those people killed Antipas because he kept on telling people about Me, but you were not afraid to say that you believe in Me. 14But I am angry with you because there are a few things that you do wrong. Some of you are doing the things that Balaam taught the people. Balaam told Balak how he could make the people of Israel sin. He told Balak to let them eat meat that people had sacrificed to idols and made them live immorally. 15It is the same in your congregation. There are some people who believe the things that the Nicolaitans teach them. 16But you must live as I want you to live. If you don't do it, I will come soon and the sword in my mouth will go to war_against the people who believe the things that the Nicolaitans teach them.
17If you understand what the Spirit says to the congregations, then you must obey Him. If you win against Satan and keep on believing, I will give you manna that other people do not know about. I will also give you a white stone with a new name on it. No one else will know that name. Only you will know it.” ’
The message to the congregation in Thyatira
18‘You must write to the angel of the congregation in the town of Thyatira. Tell him:
The eyes of the Son of God are like a flame of fire and his feet are shining like bronze. He says: 19“I know everything that you do. I know that you love Me and that you do what you promise to do, and you serve the other believers. I know you are suffering because you belong to Me, but you do not stop serving Me, and you are patient. I know that you do many more things for Me now than you did when you started to believe in Me. 20But I am angry with you because you don't do anything against the woman Jezebel. She says she is a prophetess, but she teaches things that are not_true and she teaches them to people who belong to Me. She teaches people to be immoral and to eat meat that people have sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to stop and to start living as I want her to live and to stop living immorally. But she did not want to stop.
22If she and everyone who is immoral with her do not stop doing bad things, I will make them all become very sick and they will suffer. I will do it if they do not turn away from their sin and start to live as I want. 23I will cause everyone to die who does the things that she says. Then all the congregations will see that I know what people think and what they want to do. I will judge everyone by what he has done.
24But the other people in the congregation of Thyatira do not believe the things that Jezebel teaches them. Some people say those things are the deep secret of the devil, but you did not want to know what those things were. I want you to do one thing and that is: 25You must keep on believing the things that you believe now until I come back to you. 26If you win against Satan and keep on doing what I want, I will give you power to rule over the nations. 27You will not be friendly to them. You will rule like a king with an iron_sceptre. You will do with them what you want, like someone who easily breaks clay_jars. 28My Father said I may rule like that, and I say you may also rule like that. I will give you the morning star. You will be people who have won against Satan, as I did.
29If you understand what the Spirit says to the congregations, you must obey Him.” ’
