2:1 TO THE angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him Who holds the seven stars [which are the messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, Who goes about among the seven golden lampstands [which are the seven churches]: |
2:2 I know your industry {and} activities, laborious toil {and} trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested {and} critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors {and} liars. |
2:3 I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name's sake, and you have not fainted {or} become exhausted {or} grown weary. |
2:4 But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love]. |
2:5 Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind {and} repent. |
2:6 Yet you have this [in your favor and to your credit]: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans [what they are doing as corrupters of the people], which I Myself also detest. |
2:7 He who is able to hear, let him listen to {and} give heed to what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant to eat [of the fruit] of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. |
2:8 And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, Who died and came to life again: |
2:9 I know your affliction {and} distress {and} pressing trouble and your poverty--but you are rich! and how you are abused {and} reviled {and} slandered by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. |
2:10 Fear nothing that you are about to suffer. [Dismiss your dread and your fears!] Behold, the devil is indeed about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested {and} proved {and} critically appraised, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be loyally faithful unto death [even if you must die for it], and I will give you the crown of life. |
2:11 He who is able to hear, let him listen to {and} heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). He who overcomes (is victorious) shall in no way be injured by the second death. |
2:12 Then to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Pergamum write: These are the words of Him Who has {and} wields the sharp two-edged sword: |
2:13 I know where you live--a place where Satan sits enthroned. [Yet] you are clinging to {and} holding fast My name, and you did not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed (martyred) in your midst--where Satan dwells. |
2:14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: you have some people there who are clinging to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap {and} a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, [to entice them] to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols and to practice lewdness [giving themselves up to sexual vice]. |
2:15 You also have some who in a similar way are clinging to the teaching of the Nicolaitans [those corrupters of the people] {which thing I hate}. |
2:16 Repent [then]! Or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of My mouth. |
2:17 He who is able to hear, let him listen to {and} heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (conquers), I will give to eat of the manna that is hidden, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone, which no one knows {or} understands except he who receives it. |
2:18 And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, Who has eyes that flash like a flame of fire, and Whose feet glow like bright {and} burnished {and} white-hot bronze: |
2:19 I know your record {and} what you are doing, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your recent works are more numerous {and} greater than your first ones. |
2:20 But I have this against you: that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [claiming to be inspired], and who is teaching and leading astray my servants {and} beguiling them into practicing sexual vice and eating food sacrificed to idols. [I Kings 16:31; II Kings 9:22, 30.] |
2:21 I gave her time to repent, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality [symbolic of idolatry] {and} refuses to do so. |
2:22 Take note: I will throw her on a bed [of anguish], and those who commit adultery with her [her paramours] I will bring down to pressing distress {and} severe affliction, unless they turn away their minds from conduct [such as] hers {and} repent of {their} doings. |
2:23 And I will strike her children (her proper followers) dead [thoroughly exterminating them]. And all the assemblies (churches) shall recognize {and} understand that I am He Who searches minds (the thoughts, feelings, and purposes) and the [inmost] hearts, and I will give to each of you [the reward for what you have done] as your work deserves. |
2:24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not explored {and} known the depths of Satan, as they say--I tell you that I do not lay upon you any other [fresh] burden: |
2:25 Only hold fast to what you have until I come. |
2:26 And he who overcomes (is victorious) and who obeys My commands to the [very] end [doing the works that please Me], I will give him authority {and} power over the nations; |
2:27 And he shall rule them with a sceptre (rod) of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, and [his power over them shall be] like that which I Myself have received from My Father; |
2:28 And I will give him the Morning Star. |
2:29 He who is able to hear, let him listen to {and} heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). |