Revelation 1:3-5
Expanded Bible
3 ·Blessed [Happy] is the one who reads the words of ·God’s message [L the prophecy], and ·blessed [happy] are the people who hear this message and ·do [keep; obey] what is written in it [C the context envisioned is a leader reading to a congregation]. ·The time is near when all of this will happen [L For the time is near].
Jesus’ Message to the Churches
4 From John.
To the seven churches in Asia [C the Roman province of Asia, today part of western Turkey]:
Grace and peace to you from the One who is and [the One who] was and [the One who] is coming [C these three descriptions function like titles for God; Ex. 3:14–15], and from ·the seven spirits [C referring either to angels or to the “sevenfold Spirit”—the Holy Spirit portrayed in his perfection (the number seven indicating completeness)] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is ·the faithful witness [or the faithful one, the witness], the ·first among those raised from [L firstborn of/from among] the dead. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth.
·He is the One [L To him] who loves us, who made us free[a] from our sins ·with the blood of his death [L by his blood].
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Revelation 1:5 who made us free Some Greek copies read “who washed us.”
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