Book of Common Prayer

The letter to Smyrna

⁸ “Write this to the angel of the church in Smyrna. ‘These are the words of the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life. ⁹ I know your suffering and poverty (but you are rich!). I know the blasphemy of those self-styled Jews. They are nothing of the kind. They are a satan-synagogue. ¹⁰ Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look: the devil is going to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be put to the test. You will have ten days of affliction. Be faithful all the way to death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches. The second death will not harm the one who conquers.’

The letter to Pergamum

¹² “Write this to the angel of the church in Pergamum. ‘These are the words of the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. ¹³ I know where you live—right there where the satan has his throne! You have clung on to my name, and have not denied my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed in your midst, right there where the satan lives. ¹⁴ But I do have a few things against you: you have some people there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to cause the children of Israel to stumble, making them eat idol-food and engage in fornication. ¹⁵ So, too, you have some among you who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ So: repent! If you don’t, I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. ¹⁷ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches. To anyone who conquers I will give secret manna, and a white stone, with a new name written on that stone which nobody knows except the one who receives it.’

Condemnation of scribes and Pharisees (1)

¹³ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus continued. “You slam the door of heaven’s kingdom in people’s faces. You don’t go in yourselves, and when other people try to enter, you stop them.

¹⁵ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You cross sea and land to make one single Gentile take up Jewish practices, and when that happens you make the convert twice as much a child of Gehenna as you are yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe betide you, you blind guides! This is what you say: ‘If anyone swears by the Temple, it’s nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold in the Temple, the oath is valid.’ ¹⁷ How crazy and blind can you get! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it’s nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, the oath is valid.’ ¹⁹ How blind you are! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the Temple swears by it and by the one who lives in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.”

Condemnation of scribes and Pharisees (2)

²³ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus went on. “You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and you omit the serious matters of the law like justice, mercy and loyalty. You should have done these, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You’re blind guides! You filter out a gnat, but you gulp down a camel!

²⁵ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You scrub the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is full of extortion and moral flabbiness. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first make the inside of the cup clean, and then the outside will be clean as well.