As suggested above, a period can be placed at the end of verse 10, and verse 11 can begin, as Good News Translation has it, “It said” (or, “The voice said”). Not until the next verse does John turn around to discover who is speaking to him.

Write what you see in a book: the unfortunate order of words in Revised Standard Version has been corrected in New Revised Standard Version, “Write in a book what you see.” The phrase what you see includes all the visions John will see, as recorded in the book. In this case the book is most likely a papyrus scroll. In certain languages the phrase what you see will be expressed as “all the things you see (or, will be seeing),” and the full clause may be expressed as “Write an account (or, report) of all the things that you see….”

There is no way of knowing why these seven churches in the Roman province of Asia were chosen. The order in which the cities are named may indicate the route to be followed by the messenger taking the book to them. The first one on the list, Ephesus, was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia. (For the translation of churches see the comments on Rev. 1.4. The phrase to the seven churches may also be expressed as “to the groups of Christians (or, people who follow Christ) and who live in these seven cities.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .