And to the church's angel at Sardis write thus: A message to you from him who bears the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know of all your doings, how you do pass for a living man, and all the while are a corpse. Rouse yourself, and rally whatever else still lives, but lives at the point of death. There are tasks my God expects of you, and I find them unfulfilled. Remember how the gift, how the message came to you; hold it fast, and repent. If you fail in your watch, I will come upon you like a thief; you shall never know the hour of my coming to you. Yet here and there in Sardis you can claim souls which have kept their garments undefiled, and these shall bear me company, clothed in white; it is their due. Who wins the victory? So shall he be clothed, in white garments; his name I will never blot out of the book of life, his name I will acknowledge before my Father and his angels. Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches. And to the angel of the church at Philadelphia write thus: A message to you from me, who is all holiness and truth; who bears the key of David, so that none may shut when he opens, none open when he shuts: I know of your doings, and see, I have set before you an open door, there is no shutting it. I know how little your strength is, and yet you have been true to my message, and have not denied my name. Before long, I will give you for your own some of Satan's chosen people, the men who falsely claim to be Jews when they are none; before long, I will make them come to you, doing reverence at your feet, and acknowledging the love I have shown for you. You have kept true to my lesson of endurance, and I will keep you safe from the hour of trial which is soon to fall upon the whole world, for the testing of all who dwell on the earth. Patience, I am coming soon; hold what is in your grasp, so that none may rob you of your crown. Who wins the victory? I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, never to leave it again. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city my God has built, that new Jerusalem which my God is even now sending down from heaven, and my own new name. Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches. And to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: A message to you from the Truth, the faithful and unerring witness, the source from which God's creation began: I know of your doings, and find you neither cold nor hot; cold or hot, I would you were one or the other. Being what you are, lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, you will make me vomit you out of my mouth. I am rich, you say, I have come into my own; nothing, now, is wanting to me. And all the while, if you did but know it, it is you who are wretched, you who are to be pitied. you are a beggar, blind and naked; and my counsel to you is, to come and buy from me what you need; gold, proved in the fire, to make you rich, and white garments, to clothe you, and cover up the nakedness which dishonours you; rub salve, too, upon your eyes, to restore them sight. It is those I love that I correct and chasten; kindle your generosity, and repent. See where I stand at the door, knocking; if anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to visit him, and take my supper with him, and he shall sup with me. Who wins the victory? I will let him share my throne with me; I too have won the victory, and now I sit sharing my Father's throne. Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches.