Chapter 3

¹“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

“ ‘He who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars speaks thus: I know what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but you are dead. ²Wake up, and strengthen what is left, although it is already on the point of death, for I have found nothing you have done complete in the sight of my God. ³So remember what you received and heard, and obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I am coming upon you. ⁴Yet you have a few at Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me clad in white, for they deserve to. ⁵He who is victorious will be clothed thus, in white clothing, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, but I will acknowledge him as mine in the presence of my Father and his angels. ⁶Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’

⁷“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

“ ‘He who is holy and true, who carries the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open, speaks thus: ⁸I know what you are doing. See! I have put before you an open door that no one can close. I know that you have little strength, but you have obeyed my message and you have not disowned my name. ⁹I will make some who belong to that synagogue of Satan and claim to be Jews when they are not so, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and learn that I loved you. ¹⁰Because you have kept in mind the message of what I endured, I also will keep you safe in the time of testing that is going to come upon the whole world, to test the inhabitants of the earth. ¹¹I am coming soon. Keep hold of what you have, so that no one may deprive you of your crown. ¹²I will make him who is victorious a pillar in the temple of my God; he shall never go out of it again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem, which is to come down out of heaven from my God—and my new name. ¹³Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’

¹⁴“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

“ ‘The Amen, the true and faithful witness, the origin of God’s creation, speaks thus: ¹⁵I know what you are doing, and that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶As it is, since you are tepid and neither cold nor hot, I am going to spit you out of my mouth! ¹⁷Because you say, “I am rich, I have become wealthy, I need nothing,” and you do not know that it is you that are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked, ¹⁸I advise you to buy of me gold that has been tested with fire, so that you may be rich, and white clothes to put on, to keep your shameful nakedness from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, to make you see. ¹⁹I reprove and discipline all whom I love. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰Here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will be his guest and dine with him, and he with me. ²¹I will permit him who is victorious to take his seat beside me on my throne, just as I have been victorious and taken my seat beside my Father on his throne. ²²Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”