The river of life
1Then the angel showed me a river. The river was very clear, as clear as crystal. In the river was water that gives eternal_life. The river comes from the throne of God and from the Lamb. 2The river flowed in the middle of the street in the city. There was a tree_of_life on each side of the river. The trees had 12 different fruits, and they had fruit every month. The people of all nations used the leaves on the trees to be healed.
3God will curse no one and nothing in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city and the servants of God will worship Him. 4They will see God and God's name will be written on their foreheads. 5There will be no night, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun because the Lord God will be a Light for them. And they will rule forever and ever.
Jesus will come again
6The angel said to me: ‘The things that are written in this book are true. People can believe it because the Lord God told the prophets what they must say. Yes, God sent his angel to his servants to show them the things that must happen soon.’
7Christ said: ‘I will come soon. The things that must happen are written in this book. If someone reads the words of this prophecy and he believes them, then God will be good to him.’
8I, John, saw and heard all the things that are written in this book. An angel showed them to me. When I saw and heard all these things, I knelt down in front of the angel's feet and I wanted to worship him. 9But he said to me: ‘You must not worship me. I also serve God. I serve Him like you and your friends, the prophets, and like everyone else who reads this book and does what is written in this book.’
10Then the angel said to me: ‘The things that must happen are written in this book, in this prophecy. Do not keep it secret. Tell it because the time is near when these things will happen. 11The people who do things that are wrong will keep on doing more things that are wrong. And the people who do bad things will keep on doing more bad things. But people who do what God wants must keep on doing more things that God wants. And the people who live in the right way must keep on living in the right way.’
12Then Christ said: ‘I will come soon. I know what everyone has done and I will reward every person. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14I will be good to people who live in the right way. They are like people who have clean clothes. They may eat the fruit of the tree_of_life. And they may go through the gates into the city of God. 15But outside the city of God are the bad people, people who do magic, impure people and those who kill other people, people who serve_idols and people who like to tell lies.
16I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you. The angel told all the things that are in this book to the congregations. I, Jesus, am the Son of David, the descendant of David and the Bright Morning Star.’
17Yes, the Spirit and the church, the bride of Christ, say: ‘You must come.’ Everyone who listens to this must say: ‘You must come.’
If someone is thirsty, let him come and drink water, water that will give eternal_life, and that is free.
18The things that must happen are written in this book, in this prophecy. I warn everyone who reads this book: ‘If anyone says that God will make things happen, but those things are not written in this book, then God will punish that person. God will give him the punishments that are in this book. 19And if anyone says that something in this book will not happen, then God will punish him. God will say he may not eat the fruit of the tree_of_life and he may not come into the Holy City, which this book tells us about.’
20It is Jesus who says all these things. He also says: ‘Yes, I will come soon.’
Amen. You must come, Lord Jesus. 21I pray that the Lord Jesus will give his grace to you all.
