12When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. 13And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man.*1:13 Or like a son of man. See Dan 7:13. “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. 14His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. 15His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. 16He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.*1:18 Greek and Hades.

19“Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.*1:19 Or what you have seen and what they mean—the things that have already begun to happen. 20This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels*1:20 Or the messengers. of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.