Book of Common Prayer

The letter to Thyatira

¹⁸ “Write this to the angel of the church in Thyatira. ‘These are the words of the son of God, whose eyes are like flaming fire and whose feet are like exquisite brass. ¹⁹ I know what you have done: I know your love, your faith, your service and your patience. I know that your works have been more impressive recently than they were before. ²⁰ But I have something against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and deceives my servants by teaching them to practice fornication and to eat idol-food. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she had no wish to repent of her immorality. ²² Look! I am going to throw her on a bed, and those who have committed fornication with her will have great distress, unless they repent of the works into which she has led them. ²³ I will utterly slaughter her children, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will give to each of you what your deeds deserve. ²⁴ For the rest of you in Thyatira, those who have not held this teaching, who haven’t discovered the so-called “satanic depths”: I’m not going to put any other pressure on you. ²⁵ Just hold on tightly to what you have until I come. ²⁶ To anyone who conquers, who keeps my works right through to the end, I will give authority over the nations, ²⁷ to rule them with a rod of iron, smashing them like clay pots! ²⁸ That is the authority I myself received from my father. What’s more, I will give them the morning star. ²⁹ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit says to the churches.’

²⁷ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You’re like whitewashed graves, which look fine on the outside, but inside they are full of dead people’s bones and uncleanness of every kind. ²⁸ That’s like you: on the outside you appear to be virtuous and law-abiding, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets, and you decorate the memorials of the righteous, ³⁰ and you say, ‘If we’d lived in the days of our ancestors, we wouldn’t have gone along with them in killing the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of the people who murdered the prophets! ³² Well then, go ahead: complete the work your ancestors began! ³³ You snakes, you nest of vipers, how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna?”

Judgment on Jerusalem and its leaders

³⁴ “Because of all this,” Jesus concluded, “I’m sending you prophets, wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will whip in your synagogues. You’ll chase them from town to town. ³⁵ That’s how all the righteous blood that’s been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah—you murdered him between sanctuary and altar—all that blood will come upon you. ³⁶ I’m telling you the solemn truth: it will all come on this generation.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather up your children, the way a hen gathers up her brood under her wings, and you didn’t want me to! ³⁸ Now, see here: your house has been abandoned by God; it’s a ruin. ³⁹ Yes, I tell you: you won’t see me again from now on until you say, ‘God’s blessing on the coming one, the one who comes in the Lord’s own name!’ ”