Revelation 2

Write this to the angel of the church in Ephesus: These are the words of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven gold lampstands.

1Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

NoteThese are seven letters to seven real congregations in the Roman province of Asia, the western end of what is now Turkey, listed in the order a messenger would reach them traveling a circular road. The Greek word translated "angel" means messenger, and can mean either a heavenly being or a human envoy; readers have taken it both ways, and the text does not settle it. Ephesus was a major port and the largest city of the province. The KJV's "candlesticks" are lampstands: stands holding small clay lamps that burned olive oil. Candles were not in use.

2I know what you do, how hard you work, and how you keep going. I know you cannot put up with people who are evil. You tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and you proved them liars.

2I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

Note"Patience" in 1611 English meant holding up under pressure without giving way, closer to endurance than to calm waiting. "Tried" means tested, the way metal is tested for purity. "Apostles" were traveling envoys sent out with authority; the word means one who is sent. Wandering teachers claiming that status were common enough that a congregation had to check the claim.

3You have put up with much, you have kept going, and you have worked hard for my name without giving up.

3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Note"Hast not fainted" has nothing to do with collapsing. In 1611 "faint" meant to lose heart or grow weary.

4But I have this against you: you have left the love you had at first.

4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5So remember how far you have fallen. Turn back, and do the things you did at first. If you do not turn back, I will come to you soon and take your lampstand from its place.

5Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Note"Repent" translates a Greek word meaning to change your mind and turn around: a reversal of direction, not a feeling of regret. "Out of his place" is old English for "out of its place"; before "its" came into general use, "his" served as the possessive for things as well as for men.

6But you do have this in your favor: you hate what the Nicolaitans do, and I hate it too.

6But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

NoteNothing is known about the Nicolaitans beyond this verse and verse 15. The name suggests followers of a leader called Nicolaus, but the letter assumes its readers already know who they are and never says what they did.

7Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which stands in the garden of God.

7He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Note"He that hath an ear, let him hear" is a fixed call for attention, repeated at the end of each of the seven letters. "Overcometh" translates a verb for winning a fight or a contest, the word a Greek speaker would use of a victor. "Paradise" comes from an old Persian word for a walled garden or park; Greek-speaking Jews used it for the garden of Eden, where the tree of life stood (Genesis 2 and 3).

8Write this to the angel of the church in Smyrna: These are the words of the First and the Last, who was dead and is alive again.

8And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

NoteSmyrna was a wealthy port about forty miles north of Ephesus, on the site of modern Izmir. "The first and the last" is a title used of God in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12.

9I know what you do, how much you suffer, and how poor you are. Yet you are rich. And I know the lies spoken against you by people who say they are Jews but are not. They are a meeting place of Satan.

9I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Note"Blasphemy" in Greek means abusive or slanderous speech, and can be aimed at people as well as at God; here it is talk spoken against the congregation. "Synagogue" simply means a gathering or assembly, and was the ordinary word for a Jewish congregation and its meeting house, which is why the phrase "synagogue of Satan" lands as a reversal of an everyday term. The dispute described is one inside the Jewish community of the city, over who counts as belonging to it.

10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Listen: the devil is going to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer for ten days. Stay faithful even if it costs your life, and I will give you the crown of life.

10Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Note"Ten days" is a way of marking off a short, bounded stretch of time rather than a precise count. The "crown" is a stephanos, the wreath given to the winner of an athletic contest or awarded as a public honor, not a royal diadem.

11Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.

11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Note"Hurt of" means harmed by. "The second death" is a phrase this book returns to later (20:14), where it is identified with the lake of fire; here it is left standing without explanation.

12Write this to the angel of the church in Pergamos: These are the words of the one who has the sharp sword with two edges.

12And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

NotePergamos, also spelled Pergamum, lay inland to the north. It was the old royal capital of the region, held the first temple in the province dedicated to the worship of a Roman emperor, and was known for a huge altar to Zeus and a major healing shrine to Asclepius. The sword described is a rhomphaia, a long broad blade, not the short stabbing sword a Roman soldier carried.

13I know what you do, and I know where you live, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold on to my name. You did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan lives.

13I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Note"Satan's seat" means Satan's throne: in 1611 English a "seat" was regularly a throne or seat of government. "Martyr" translates martys, which in Greek means simply a witness, someone who gives testimony; only later did the word narrow to mean a person killed for their faith, and this verse is part of how that shift happened. Nothing else is known about Antipas.

14But I have a few things against you. Some of you there hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak how to trip up the people of Israel: to eat food offered to idols and to have sex outside marriage.

14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

NoteIn Numbers 22 to 24 the Moabite king Balak hires the seer Balaam to curse Israel and Balaam cannot do it; in Numbers 25 Israelite men then join in the sacrificial meals and sexual rites of Moab, and Numbers 31:16 lays that at Balaam's door. A "stumblingblock" is a trap or snare set in someone's path. "Things sacrificed unto idols" means meat from a temple sacrifice, which was served at temple banquets and sold in the market, so refusing it meant stepping out of much of the social and business life of a Greek city. "Fornication" translates porneia, a broad term for sexual activity outside marriage, which the Hebrew prophets also used as an image for unfaithfulness to God. Both senses are available here and the text does not separate them.

15In the same way, some of you hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which I hate.

15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.

16Turn back. If you do not, I will come to you soon and fight against those people with the sword that comes from my mouth.

16Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

NoteA sword coming from the mouth is an image for words spoken as a weapon, drawn from Isaiah 11:4, where a ruler strikes with what he says rather than with anything in his hand.

17Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, a name no one knows except the one who gets it.

17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

NoteManna was the bread-like food Israel ate in the desert (Exodus 16); a jar of it was kept beside the covenant chest, and a later Jewish tradition held that it was hidden away to reappear in the age to come. What the white stone stands for is disputed: white stones were used as a juror's vote for acquittal, as a token of admission to a banquet, and as an amulet inscribed with a secret name. The text does not say which it means.

18Write this to the angel of the church in Thyatira: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a flame of fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.

18And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

NoteThyatira was a smaller inland town known for its trade guilds, especially dyers and metalworkers; belonging to a guild normally meant attending meals held in a temple. The Greek word behind "fine brass" (chalkolibanos) appears nowhere else in surviving Greek and its exact sense is unknown; it is some bright copper alloy. "Brass" in 1611 usually meant what we call bronze.

19I know what you do: your love, your service, your faith, and how you keep going. And I know that what you are doing now is more than what you did at first.

19I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

Note"Charity" in the KJV means love, with none of the modern sense of giving to the poor. "Patience" again means endurance under pressure.

20But I have a few things against you. You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet, to teach my servants and lead them into having sex outside marriage and eating food offered to idols.

20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

NoteJezebel was the Phoenician queen of King Ahab of Israel, who promoted the worship of Baal and had prophets of the Lord killed (1 Kings 16 to 21, 2 Kings 9). The name is used here as a label pinned on a woman in Thyatira; it will not have been her own name. "Sufferest" means tolerate or allow, the older sense of "suffer". A prophetess is a woman claiming to speak messages received from God.

21I gave her time to turn away from her sexual sin, and she would not.

21And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

Note"Space to repent" means time and opportunity to turn around.

22Look, I will throw her onto a bed of sickness. And those who commit adultery with her I will throw into terrible suffering, unless they turn away from what they have done.

22Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Note"Cast her into a bed" turns the bed of the adultery into a sickbed; the grim wordplay is in the Greek. "Tribulation" in the KJV means crushing affliction or pressure in general, not specifically an end-times event.

23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches the deepest thoughts and the heart. And I will give each one of you what your actions deserve.

23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Note"Kill her children with death" is a Hebrew-style doubling that means kill them outright, often with the sense of death by plague. "Her children" may mean her followers rather than her offspring. "The reins" are the kidneys: Hebrew idiom located the deepest impulses in the kidneys and thought and will in the heart, so "reins and hearts" means the whole inner person. The word has nothing to do with a horse's reins.

24But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold this teaching and have not learned what they call the deep things of Satan, I say this: I am not putting any other load on you.

24But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

Note"As they speak" means "as they call it": the phrase "the depths of Satan" is being quoted back at the group, and it is unclear whether they used those words themselves or whether this is a sharp twist on their own claim to know deep things. "Burden" means a further requirement laid on a congregation to carry.

25Just hold on to what you already have until I come.

25But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

26To the one who overcomes and keeps doing what I command right to the end, I will give authority over the nations.

26And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Note"Power" here means authority, the right to rule, rather than raw force.

27He will rule them with an iron rod and smash them to pieces like clay pots. This is the same authority I received from my Father.

27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

NoteThis quotes Psalm 2:8 and 9, where God promises his anointed king rule over the nations. The Greek verb translated "rule" means to shepherd, since the Greek Old Testament read the Hebrew word for "break" as "shepherd"; the gentler image of herding and the violent image of smashing pottery sit side by side in the line. "Vessels of a potter" are ordinary fired clay pots, cheap and easily shattered. "Broken to shivers" is old English for smashed into fragments; a shiver was a splinter or small broken piece.

28And I will give him the morning star.

28And I will give him the morning star.

NoteThe morning star is the planet Venus, seen low in the east just before sunrise. Later in this book (22:16) the speaker calls himself the bright morning star. A star was also a standing image for a coming ruler, as in Numbers 24:17, "there shall come a Star out of Jacob".

29Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

29He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.