Revelation 2
Good News Translation
The Message to Ephesus
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
“This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands. 2 I know what you have done; I know how hard you have worked and how patient you have been. I know that you cannot tolerate evil people and that you have tested those who say they are apostles but are not, and have found out that they are liars. 3 You are patient, you have suffered for my sake, and you have not given up. 4 But this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first. 5 Think how far you have fallen! Turn from your sins and do what you did at first. If you don't turn from your sins, I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place. 6 But this is what you have in your favor: you hate what the Nicolaitans do, as much as I do.
7 (A)“If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!
“To those who win the victory I will give the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life that grows in the Garden of God.
The Message to Smyrna
8 (B)“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
“This is the message from the one who is the first and the last, who died and lived again. 9 I know your troubles; I know that you are poor—but really you are rich! I know the evil things said against you by those who claim to be Jews but are not; they are a group that belongs to Satan! 10 Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.
11 (C)“If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!
“Those who win the victory will not be hurt by the second death.
The Message to Pergamum
12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
“This is the message from the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. 13 I know where you live, there where Satan has his throne. You are true to me, and you did not abandon your faith in me even during the time when Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed there where Satan lives. 14 (D)But there are a few things I have against you: there are some among you who follow the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak how to lead the people of Israel into sin by persuading them to eat food that had been offered to idols and to practice sexual immorality. 15 In the same way you have people among you who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Now turn from your sins! If you don't, I will come to you soon and fight against those people with the sword that comes out of my mouth.
17 (E)“If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!
“To those who win the victory I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give each of them a white stone on which is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
The Message to Thyatira
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
“This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes blaze like fire, whose feet shine like polished brass. 19 I know what you do. I know your love, your faithfulness, your service, and your patience. I know that you are doing more now than you did at first. 20 (F)But this is what I have against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a messenger of God. By her teaching she misleads my servants into practicing sexual immorality and eating food that has been offered to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her sins, but she does not want to turn from her immorality. 22 And so I will throw her on a bed where she and those who committed adultery with her will suffer terribly. I will do this now unless they repent of the wicked things they did with her. 23 (G)I will also kill her followers, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who knows everyone's thoughts and wishes. I will repay each of you according to what you have done.
24 “But the rest of you in Thyatira have not followed this evil teaching; you have not learned what the others call ‘the deep secrets of Satan.’ I say to you that I will not put any other burden on you. 25 But until I come, you must hold firmly to what you have. 26-28 (H)To those who win the victory, who continue to the end to do what I want, I will give the same authority that I received from my Father: I will give them authority over the nations, to rule them with an iron rod and to break them to pieces like clay pots. I will also give them the morning star.
29 “If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!
Revelation 2
GOD’S WORD Translation
A Letter to the Church in Ephesus
2 “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus, write:
The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lamp stands, says: 2 I know what you have done—how hard you have worked and how you have endured. I also know that you cannot tolerate wicked people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not apostles. You have discovered that they are liars. 3 You have endured, suffered trouble because of my name, and have not grown weary. 4 However, I have this against you: The love you had at first is gone. 5 Remember how far you have fallen. Return to me and change the way you think and act, and do what you did at first. I will come to you and take your lamp stand from its place if you don’t change. 6 But you have this in your favor—you hate what the Nicolaitans are doing. I also hate what they’re doing.
7 “Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the privilege of eating from the tree of life, which stands in the paradise of God, to everyone who wins the victory.
A Letter to the Church in Smyrna
8 “To the messenger of the church in Smyrna, write: The first and the last, who was dead and became alive, says:
9 I know how you are suffering, how poor you are—but you are rich. I also know that those who claim to be Jews slander you. They are the synagogue of Satan. 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. The devil is going to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested. Your suffering will go on for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Everyone who wins the victory will never be hurt by the second death.
A Letter to the Church in Pergamum
12 “To the messenger of the church in Pergamum, write: The one who holds the sharp two-edged sword says:
13 I know where you live. Satan’s throne is there. You hold on to my name and have not denied your belief in me, even in the days of Antipas. He was my faithful witness who was killed in your presence, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you: You have among you those who follow what Balaam taught Balak. Balak trapped the people of Israel by ⌞encouraging⌟ them to eat food sacrificed to idols and to sin sexually. 15 You also have some who follow what the Nicolaitans teach. 16 So return to me and change the way you think and act, or I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword from my mouth. 17 Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give some of the hidden manna to everyone who wins the victory. I will also give each person a white stone with a new name written on it, a name that is known only to the person who receives it.
A Letter to the Church in Thyatira
18 “To the messenger of the church in Thyatira, write: The Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire and whose feet are like glowing bronze, says:
19 I know what you do. I know your love, faith, service, and endurance. I also know that what you are doing now is greater than what you did at first. 20 But I have something against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. She teaches and misleads my servants to sin sexually and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to turn to me and change the way she thinks and acts, but she refuses to turn away from her sexual sins. 22 Watch me! I’m going to throw her into a sickbed. Those who commit sexual sins with her will also suffer a lot, unless they turn away from what she is doing. 23 I will kill her children. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches hearts and minds. I will reward each of you for what you have done. 24 But the rest of you in Thyatira—all who don’t hold on to Jezebel’s teaching, who haven’t learned what are called the deep things of Satan—I won’t burden you with anything else. 25 Just hold on to what you have until I come. 26 I have received authority from my Father.[a] I will give authority over the nations to everyone who wins the victory and continues to do what I want until the end. 27 Those people will rule the nations with iron scepters and shatter them like pottery. 28 I will also give them the morning star. 29 Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Footnotes
- 2:26 The first part of verse 28 (in Greek) has been moved to the beginning of verse 26 to express the complex Greek sentence structure more clearly in English.
Revelation 2
Contemporary English Version
The Letter to Ephesus
2 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Ephesus:
I am the one who holds the seven stars in my right hand, and I walk among the seven gold lampstands. Listen to what I say.
2 I know everything you have done, including your hard work and how you have endured. I know you won't put up with anyone who is evil. When some people pretended to be apostles, you tested them and found out they were liars. 3 You have endured and gone through hard times because of me, yet you have not given up.
4 But I do have something against you! And it is this: You don't have as much love as you used to. 5 Think about where you have fallen from, and then turn back and do as you did at first. If you don't turn back, I will come and take away your lampstand. 6 But there is one thing you are doing right. You hate what the Nicolaitans[a] are doing, and so do I.
7 (A) If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will let everyone who wins the victory eat from the life-giving tree in God's wonderful garden.
The Letter to Smyrna
8 (B) This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Smyrna:
I am the first and the last. I died, but now I am alive! Listen to what I say.
9 I know how much you suffer and how poor you are, but you are rich. I also know the cruel things being said about you by people who claim to be God's people. But they are not really God's people. They are a group that belongs to Satan.
10 Don't worry about what you will suffer. The devil will throw some of you into jail, and you will be tested and made to suffer for ten days. But if you are faithful until you die, I will reward you with a glorious life.[b]
11 (C) If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Whoever wins the victory will not be hurt by the second death.[c]
The Letter to Pergamum
12 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Pergamum:
I am the one who has the sharp double-edged sword! Listen to what I say.
13 I know you live where Satan has his throne.[d] But you have kept true to my name. Right there where Satan lives, my faithful witness Antipas[e] was taken from you and put to death. Even then you did not give up your faith in me.
14 (D) I do have a few things against you. Some of you are following the teaching of Balaam.[f] Long ago he told Balak to teach the people of Israel to eat food that had been offered to idols and to be immoral. 15 Now some of you are following the teaching of the Nicolaitans.[g] 16 Turn back! If you don't, I will come quickly and fight against these people. And my words will cut like a sword.
17 (E) If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To everyone who wins the victory, I will give some of the hidden food.[h] I will also give each one a white stone[i] with a new name[j] written on it. No one will know that name except the one who is given the stone.
The Letter to Thyatira
18 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Thyatira:
I am the Son of God! My eyes are like flames of fire, and my feet are like bronze. Listen to what I say.
19 I know everything about you, including your love, your faith, your service, and how you have endured. I know you are doing more now than you have ever done before. 20 (F) But I still have something against you because of that woman Jezebel.[k] She calls herself a prophet, and you let her teach and mislead my servants to do immoral things and to eat food offered to idols. 21 I gave her a chance to turn from her sins, but she did not want to stop doing these immoral things.
22 I am going to strike down Jezebel. Everyone who does these immoral things with her will also be punished, if they don't stop. 23 (G) I will even kill her followers.[l] Then all the churches will see that I know everyone's thoughts and feelings. I will treat each of you as you deserve.
24 Some of you in Thyatira don't follow Jezebel's teaching. You don't know anything about what her followers call the “deep secrets of Satan.” So I won't burden you down with any other commands. 25 But until I come, you must hold firmly to the teaching you have.
26 (H) I will give power over the nations to everyone who wins the victory and keeps on obeying me until the end. 27-28 I will give each of them the same power my Father has given me. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash those nations to pieces like clay pots. I will also give them the morning star.[m]
29 If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Footnotes
- 2.6 Nicolaitans: Nothing else is known about these people, though it is possible that they claimed to be followers of Nicolaus from Antioch (see Acts 6.5).
- 2.10 a glorious life: The Greek text has “a crown of life.” In ancient times an athlete who had won a contest was rewarded with a crown of flowers as a sign of victory.
- 2.11 second death: The first death is physical death, and the “second death” is eternal death.
- 2.13 where Satan has his throne: The meaning is uncertain, but it may refer to the city as a center of pagan worship or of Emperor worship.
- 2.13 Antipas: Nothing else is known about this man, who is mentioned only here in the New Testament.
- 2.14 Balaam: According to Numbers 22–24, Balaam refused to disobey the Lord. But in other books of the Old Testament, he is spoken of as evil (see Deuteronomy 23.4,5; Joshua 13.22; 24.9,10; Nehemiah 13.2).
- 2.15 Nicolaitans: See the note at 2.6.
- 2.17 hidden food: When the people of Israel were going through the desert, the Lord provided a special food for them. Some of this was placed in a jar and stored in the sacred chest (see Exodus 16). According to later Jewish teaching, the prophet Jeremiah rescued the sacred chest when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. He hid the chest in a cave, where it would stay until God came to save his people.
- 2.17 white stone: The meaning of this is uncertain, though it may be the same as a ticket that lets a person into God's banquet where the “hidden food” is eaten. Or it may be a symbol of victory.
- 2.17 a new name: Either the name of Christ or God or the name of the follower who is given the stone.
- 2.20 Jezebel: Nothing else is known about her. This may have been her real name or a name that was given to her because she was like Queen Jezebel, who opposed the Lord (see 1 Kings 19.1,2; 21.1-26).
- 2.23 her followers: Or “her children.”
- 2.27,28 the morning star: Probably thought of as the star that signals the end of night and the beginning of day. In 22.16 Christ is called the “morning star.”
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