Revelation 2
Jubilee Bible 2000
2 ¶ Unto the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of Ephesus write; These things, saith he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
2 I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear those who are evil; and thou hast tried those who say they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars,
3 and hast suffered, and doth suffer and for my name’s sake hast laboured and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love, charity.
5 Remember, therefore, from where thou art fallen and repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
8 ¶ And unto the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of Smyrna write: These things, saith the first and the last, who was dead, and is alive:
9 I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear 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 the crown of life.
11 He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.
12 ¶ And to the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} in Pergamos write; These things, saith he, who has the sharp sword with two edges:
13 I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s throne is, and thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith, even in those days in which Antipas was my faithful witness, {or martyr} who was slain among you, where Satan dwellest.
14 But I have a few things against thee because thou hast there those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication.
15 So hast thou also those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate.
16 Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a small white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no one knows except the one that receives it.
18 ¶ And unto the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} in Thyatira write; These things, saith the Son of God, who has his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto brilliant metal:
19 I have known thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first.
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel (who calls herself a prophetess) to teach and to seduce my slaves to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I have given her time to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed and those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death, and all the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} shall know that I AM he that searches the kidneys and hearts, and I will give unto each one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine and who have not known the depths of Satan (as they say); I will put upon you no other burden
25 But that which ye have already hold fast until I come.
26 And he that overcomes and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the Gentiles;
27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter they shall be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}
Revelation 2
EasyEnglish Bible
Jesus' message to the believers at Ephesus
2 ‘Now write this to the angel of the church at Ephesus:[a]
“This is the message to you from the one who holds the seven stars. He holds them carefully in his right hand. He walks among the seven gold lampstands.
2 I know everything that you do. You have worked much for me. You have continued to work patiently. I know that you do not accept bad people as your friends. Some of these bad people say that they are apostles of Jesus. You have thought carefully about what they teach people. And you have discovered that it is not true. 3 You have been patient and strong in times of trouble. You have continued to serve me because you believe in me. You have not stopped when you become tired.
4 But I have something to say against you. You loved me very much when you first believed in me. You do not love me as much now. 5 Think carefully about this! You do not now live in the way you did at the beginning. So you must change the way you live. Do again the good things that you did at the beginning. If you do not change the way you live, I will come to punish you. I will take away your lampstand from its place. 6 But this is something that you do well: you hate the bad things that the Nicolaitans are doing. I also hate what they do.[b]
7 God's Spirit is now speaking to people in the churches. You should recognize that the Spirit is speaking. Everyone who knows that should listen to what he says. I will let everyone who wins against Satan eat my fruit. This fruit is from the tree that makes us alive. And this tree grows in God's garden.” ’[c]
Jesus' message to the believers at Smyrna
8 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Smyrna:
“This is the message to you from the one who is the first and the last. He was dead, but he became alive again.
9 I know that bad people are making you suffer. I also know that you are poor. But really, you are rich. Some people say that they are Jews, but they tell lies about you. So they cannot be my true people. Instead, they belong to a group of Satan's people. 10 I know that trouble will soon come to you. But do not be afraid. Listen! The Devil will cause some of you to go to prison. He wants to see whether you will continue to believe in me. As a result, you will suffer for ten days.[d] But continue to trust me, even if you die. Then you will win against the Devil. I will give you a gift, as they give a crown to the winner of a race.[e] You will have life with me for ever.
11 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully! The second death will not hurt anyone who wins against Satan.” ’[f]
Jesus' message to the believers at Pergamum
12 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Pergamum:
“This is the message to you from the one who has the sharp sword with two edges.
13 I know where you live. It is the place where Satan sits as king.[g] But you still continue to trust me. You remember Antipas who spoke a clear message about me. Because of that, some people in your city killed him. You saw what happened to him, but you continued to believe in me. You still serve me, even there where Satan lives.[h]
14 But I have a few things to say against you. Some people among you agree with what Balaam taught long ago. He taught Balak to do a bad thing against God's people.[i] Balak caused the Israelite people to do wrong things. As a result, they ate food that people had given to idols. They also had sex with people who were not their husbands or wives. 15 Also, some people among you do the bad things that the Nicolaitans teach. 16 So you must stop doing these bad things. If you do not change how you live, I will quickly come to punish you. I will fight against those bad people with my sharp sword that comes out of my mouth.
17 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully! To everyone who wins against Satan I will give some of my special food called manna. I will also give each of them a white stone.[j] I will write a new name on that stone. Nobody will know that name except the person who receives it.” ’
Jesus' message to the believers at Thyatira
18 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Thyatira:
“This is the message to you from the Son of God. He has eyes that burn brightly like flames of fire. His feet shine like bright metal.
19 I know everything that you do. I know that you have great love. I know that you believe in me. I know that you continue to serve me well. You are patient and strong. You do these good things now more than you did at the beginning.
20 But I have something to say against you. You let that woman Jezebel teach you. She says that she is a prophet from God. But she leads my servants into bad ways. She teaches them to have sex with many people.[k] And she teaches them to eat food that people have given to idols. 21 I have given her time to stop doing these bad things. But she refuses to change how she lives. She does not stop having sex with other men. 22 Listen to this! I will cause her to suffer on her bed, so that she cannot get up. Those who join her in her sins will also suffer very much, unless they change the way they live. 23 I will send a terrible illness to kill those who obey her. Then all the people in the churches will know that I look deep inside them. I know what you really want. I know what you really think. I will give each of you what is right for you, as a result of what you have done.
24 But I say this to you other people in Thyatira. You have not agreed with what Jezebel taught. You have not learned what they call ‘Satan's deep secrets’. So I say this to you: I will not tell you to obey any other difficult rules. 25 But continue to obey my message that you have already received. Believe in me until I come.
26 Continue to obey me until the end and win the fight against Satan. If anyone does that, I will give him authority to rule over the nations of the world. 27 That person will rule the nations with strong authority. He will destroy them, like someone who breaks clay pots into many pieces.[l] 28 He will have the same authority that I received from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.[m] 29 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully!” ’
Footnotes
- 2:1 Many people think that the ‘angel’ here means a human messenger that God has sent. The ‘angel’ could have been the person who read this letter aloud to the church. So ‘angel’ could also mean this in Revelation 2:8,12,18; 3:1,7,14. Everywhere else in Revelation, ‘angel’ means a being from heaven.
- 2:6 The Nicolaitans were teaching the Christians to do wrong things. They were not teaching the same message as Jesus had taught. We do not know much about the wrong things that they taught.
- 2:7 If we turn against Satan, Jesus promises to give us new life. The fruit that he gives us is a picture of everything that we need to live that new life.
- 2:10 ‘ten days’ may mean a short time of trouble, rather than a long time.
- 2:10 At the time John was on earth, a winner of a race received a crown. The crown was the shape of a circle. Somebody had tied leaves together to make it.
- 2:11 The second death is the opposite of when someone lives always with Jesus. It means that a person must go to a place without Jesus. Nobody is happy in that place. The name of that place is hell, or the lake of fire. See Revelation 20:14.
- 2:13 Pergamum was a city where Satan was powerful.
- 2:13 There was a special building in Pergamum for people to worship the king of Rome. This king was against Christians because they would not worship him. Also, there was a very big stone table on a hill. People offered gifts to the false god Zeus on this big table. Also, many people worshipped a snake god. The Devil appears as a snake in the Bible. See Genesis 3.
- 2:14 Balak was the king of Moab. See Numbers 22:1—25:3.
- 2:17 The colour white in the Bible usually means completely good and clean. So the white stone may show that God will make us like that. He will make our spirits completely clean if we continue to believe him.
- 2:20 God's Law says that someone should have sex only with their wife or their husband.
- 2:27 The person who rules the countries will be strong. He will rule with great power and he will punish people who do wrong things.
- 2:28 The morning star appears in the sky just before the sunrise. It is very bright. It shows us that the day is coming. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus says that he is the morning star. He brings light when it has been dark.
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