¹ 'Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus and say, "Here is the message of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who lives among the seven golden lamp-stands:

² I know your activities, your hard work and your perseverance. I know you cannot stand wicked people, and how you put to the test those who were self-styled apostles, and found them false.

³ I know too that you have perseverance, and have suffered for my name without growing tired.

⁴ Nevertheless, I have this complaint to make: you have less love now than formerly.

⁵ Think where you were before you fell; repent, and behave as you did at first, or else, if you will not repent, I shall come to you and take your lamp-stand from its place.

⁶ It is in your favour, nevertheless, that you loathe as I do the way the Nicolaitans are behaving.

⁷ Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: those who prove victorious I will feed from the tree of life set in God's paradise."

⁸ 'Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna and say, "Here is the message of the First and the Last, who was dead and has come to life again:

⁹ I know your hardships and your poverty, and -- though you are rich -- the slander of the people who falsely claim to be Jews but are really members of the synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰ Do not be afraid of the sufferings that are coming to you. Look, the devil will send some of you to prison to put you to the test, and you must face hardship for ten days. Even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the crown of life for your prize.

¹¹ Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: for those who prove victorious will come to no harm from the second death."

¹² 'Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum and say, "Here is the message of the one who has the sharp sword, double-edged:

¹³ I know where you live, in the place where Satan is enthroned, and that you still hold firmly to my name, and did not disown your faith in me even when my faithful witness, Antipas, was killed among you, where Satan lives.

¹⁴ "Nevertheless, I have one or two charges against you: some of you are followers of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the Israelites so that they committed adultery by eating food that had been sacrificed to idols;

¹⁵ and among you too there are some also who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

¹⁶ So repent, or I shall soon come to you and attack these people with the sword out of my mouth.

¹⁷ Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: to those who prove victorious I will give some hidden manna and a white stone, with a new name written on it, known only to the person who receives it."

¹⁸ 'Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira and say, "Here is the message of the Son of God who has eyes like a burning flame and feet like burnished bronze:

¹⁹ I know your activities, your love, your faith, your service and your perseverance, and I know how you are still making progress.

²⁰ Nevertheless, I have a complaint to make: you tolerate the woman Jezebel who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching she is luring my servants away to commit the adultery of eating food which has been sacrificed to idols.

²¹ I have given her time to repent but she is not willing to repent of her adulterous life.

²² Look, I am consigning her to a bed of pain, and all her partners in adultery to great hardship, unless they repent of their practices;

²³ and I will see that her children die, so that all the churches realise that it is I who test motives and thoughts and repay you as your deeds deserve.

²⁴ But on the rest of you in Thyatira, all of you who have not accepted this teaching or learnt the deep secrets of Satan, as they are called, I am not laying any other burden;

²⁵ but hold on firmly to what you already have until I come.

²⁶ To anyone who proves victorious, and keeps working for me until the end, I will give the authority over the nations

²⁷ which I myself have been given by my Father, to rule them with an iron sceptre and shatter them like so many pots.

²⁸ And I will give such a person the Morning Star.

²⁹ Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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