Book of Common Prayer
8 `Write this to the angel of the church people in Smyrna: Here are the words of the one who is the First and the Last. He is the one who died but lived again.
9 `He says, "I know the things you do and the trouble you have. I know you are poor. But you are rich in some ways. I know some people do not respect God. They call themselves Jews. But they are not real Jews. They belong to Satan's people.
10 Do not be afraid of the troubles you will have. Yes, the devil will put some of you into prison where you will be tested. You will have trouble for ten days. But keep on believing, even if you have to die for it. I will give you life for ever."
11 `He who can hear should listen to the message of the Spirit to the churches. He says, "The person who wins will not be hurt by the second death." '
12 `Write this to the angel of the church people in Pergamum: Here are the words of the one who has the long knife which is sharp on both sides.
13 `He says, "I know where you live. You live where Satan rules. But you keep my name and you have never said that you do not believe in me. You kept on believing in me even in the time of Antipas. He said he believed in me and was true to me. He was killed among you where Satan lives.
14 But I have a few things to say against you. You have some people there who believe the teaching of Balaam. He showed Balak how to trick the people of Israel and make them do wrong. They ate food that was given to idols, and they used sex wrongly.
15 Also, you have people among you who believe the teaching of the Nicolaitans. I hate the things they do.
16 Stop! If you do not, I will come soon and I will fight against them with the long knife that comes from my mouth."
17 `He who can hear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. He says, "I will give some of the secret food to the person who wins. And I will give him a white stone. A new name will be written on the stone. No one will know the name but the one who gets the stone." '
13 `You scribes and Pharisees will have trouble. You are not true to yourselves! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven so people cannot go in. You yourselves do not go in, and you stop those who were going in.
14 `You scribes and Pharisees will have trouble. You who are not true to yourselves! You take away the homes of women whose husbands are dead. You cover up your wrong ways by talking big to God for a long time. Because of that, you will be punished harder.
15 `You scribes and Pharisees will have trouble. You who are not true to yourselves! You travel over sea and land to win one person to believe what you believe. And when he believes, you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.
16 `You blind leaders will have trouble. You say that if anyone makes a promise in the name of the temple, he does not have to keep that promise. But if anyone makes a promise in the name of the gold on the temple, he must keep that promise.
17 `You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy?
18 And you say that if anyone makes a promise in the name of God's altar, he does not have to keep that promise. But if anyone makes a promise in the name of the sacrifice, he must keep that promise.
19 `You fools and blind people! Which is greater, the sacrifice or the place that makes the sacrifice holy?
20 So if anyone makes a promise by God's altar, he makes his promise by it and by all that is on it.
21 If anyone makes a promise by the temple, he makes his promise by the temple and by God who lives in the temple.
22 If anyone makes a promise by heaven, he makes his promise by God's big chair called a throne and by God who sits on the throne.
23 `You scribes and Pharisees will have trouble. You who are not true to yourselves! You give God a tenth part of small garden plants. But you have not done those bigger matters of the law. You have not judged in the right way. You have not been kind. You have not believed God. You should be doing these things and the other things too.
24 You blind leaders! You take a fly out of your cup, but you drink down a big animal like a camel!
25 `You scribes and Pharisees will have trouble. You who are not true to yourselves! You wash the outside of a cup and a dish clean. But inside they are full of greed and wrong ways!
26 You blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish so that the outside will be clean too.
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