Revelation 1:10-16
Amplified Bible
10 I was in the [a]Spirit [in special communication with the Holy Spirit and empowered to receive and record the revelation from Jesus Christ] on the [b]Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write on a scroll what you see [in this revelation], and send it to the [c]seven churches—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the midst of the lampstands I saw someone [d]like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe reaching to His feet, and with a golden sash wrapped around His chest.(A) 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, [glistening white] like snow; and His [all-seeing] eyes were [flashing] like a flame of fire [piercing into my being].(B) 15 His feet were like burnished [white-hot] bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was [powerful] like the sound of many waters.(C) 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword [of judgment]; and His face [reflecting His majesty and the [e]Shekinah glory] was like the sun shining in [all] its power [at midday].(D)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Revelation 1:10 Or spirit. The Greek wording is not decisive, so John could be referring either to being in special communion with the Holy Spirit, or to being in a trance-like state in his own spirit like that experienced by Peter at Joppa (cf Acts 10:10, 11).
- Revelation 1:10 The early church used this term to refer to Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The term Kyriake is also the regular word for Sunday in modern Greek.
- Revelation 1:11 These were actual churches in Asia Minor (now western Turkey), and in John’s time there would have been only one church body in each of the cities. They are mentioned in the order in which they would be visited by a messenger traveling northward on the imperial road from Ephesus to Laodicea.
- Revelation 1:13 Or like a son of man. The phrase is a translation of a Hebrew idiom which refers to a man, and John could simply be describing his first impression. But since this proves to be a vision of Christ (v 18), John probably is referring to Him by the title that Jesus so often applied to Himself, a title originating in the Messianic prophecy of Daniel.
- Revelation 1:16 The visible, divine Presence.
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