I John am he who heard and saw these things: “I am John, the one who heard and saw all these things.” The readers know who he is, and he assures them that he himself had all these visions and revelations from God.

And when I heard and saw them: it is better to follow Good News Translation and say something like “And after hearing and seeing them all, I….”

I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel: it should be clear that this means that John was about to worship the angel. So the statement should be “I fell down at the angel’s feet to worship him” (see 19.10). Another way to say this is “I prostrated myself before the feet of the angel to give him honor.” See also comments on worship at 4.10.

The angel who showed them to me: here John identifies this angel (verse 6) as the one who showed him everything he saw in his visions. For showed see 1.1; 4.1.

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 .