“‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,
Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”
even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
“Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.
And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
but you are the same, and your years have no end.
although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.