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Revelation · Berean Standard Bible

Revelation 2 Berean Standard Bible

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  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2022
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles. 3 Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name. 4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. 5 Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God. 8 To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and returned to life. 9 I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death. 12 To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15 In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it. 18 To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze. 19 I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first. 20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. 22 Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. 23 Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24 But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you. 25 Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come. 26 And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations. 27 He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —just as I have received authority from My Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

People & places in this chapter

From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.

People

  • Antipas

    Faithful martyr at Pergamum

    Called Christ's faithful witness, killed at Pergamum where Satan dwells.

    Cited in the guide: Revelation 2:13

  • Jezebel

    False prophetess at Thyatira

    A woman at Thyatira who called herself a prophetess and led Christ's servants into immorality and idolatry; the name probably recalls Ahab's wife.

    Cited in the guide: Revelation 2:20

Places

  • Ephesus

    Today: Western Turkey (Aegean coast) · On Second Journey · On Third Journey

    The chief city of Roman Asia, famed for the temple of Artemis. Paul's long ministry sparked the silversmiths' riot; the city is also the first addressed in Revelation.

    Cited in the guide: Acts 19:1; Acts 19:28; Revelation 2:1

Cross references (29)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Revelation 1:20; Revelation 1:16; Revelation 1:11–13; Revelation 3:7; Revelation 2:18
  2. 2 1 John 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1–3; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15; Revelation 3:8
  3. 3 Hebrews 10:36; Galatians 6:9; James 5:7–11; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:3–4
  4. 4 Matthew 24:12–13; Jeremiah 2:2–5; Hebrews 6:10–11; Philippians 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:3
  5. 5 Revelation 3:2–3; Revelation 3:19; Revelation 2:16; Hosea 14:1; Acts 17:30–31
  6. 6 Psalm 26:5; Psalm 101:3; 2 John 9–10; Revelation 2:14–15; 2 Chronicles 19:2
  7. 7 Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:43; Revelation 13:9
  8. 8 Revelation 1:17–18; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 2:1
  9. 9 Revelation 3:9; James 2:5–6; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Romans 9:6; 2 Corinthians 6:10
  10. 10 James 1:12; Matthew 10:22; Revelation 3:10–11; Luke 21:16–19; Mark 13:13
  11. 11 Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:17
  12. 12 Revelation 2:16; Revelation 1:16; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 1:11
  13. 13 Revelation 2:9–10; 1 Timothy 5:8; Revelation 3:8–9; Revelation 3:11; Acts 22:20
  14. 14 Numbers 31:16; 2 Peter 2:15; Revelation 2:20; Numbers 25:1–3; Jude 11
  15. 15 Revelation 2:6
  16. 16 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 2:5; Isaiah 11:4
  17. 17 Isaiah 62:2; Isaiah 65:15; Revelation 19:12–13; Revelation 3:12–13; Revelation 2:7
  18. 18 Revelation 1:14–15; Revelation 1:11; John 3:35–36; Psalm 2:7; John 5:25
  19. 19 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Peter 1:7; John 15:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Revelation 2:2–4
  20. 20 Revelation 2:14; 1 Kings 16:31; 1 Corinthians 10:18–21; Acts 15:29; 2 Kings 9:7
  21. 21 2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4–5; Revelation 9:20–21; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:9
  22. 22 Revelation 17:2; Luke 13:5; Ezekiel 16:37–41; Jeremiah 36:3; Revelation 18:3
  23. 23 Matthew 16:27; Psalm 7:9; Romans 8:27; 1 Peter 1:17; Acts 1:24
  24. 24 2 Corinthians 2:11; Revelation 12:9; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Acts 15:28; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15
  25. 25 Revelation 3:3; Revelation 3:11; Hebrews 10:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Revelation 22:7
  26. 26 Revelation 3:21; Revelation 2:7; Daniel 7:27; Psalm 2:8; Revelation 20:4
  27. 27 Psalm 2:8–9; Revelation 12:5; Revelation 19:15; Isaiah 30:14; Matthew 11:27
  28. 28 Revelation 22:16; 2 Peter 1:19; Luke 1:78–79
  29. 29 Revelation 2:7

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 2:6 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (Book I, Chapters XXVI–XXVIII)

    Wherefore the Word has also spoken of them thus: "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate." Chapter XXVII — Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion

    Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)

  2. Quotes verse 2:17 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (Book V, Preface)

    … and is called so; so also, when man is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of God, he certainly does not lose the substance of flesh, but changes the quality of the fruit [brought forth, i.e.,] of his works, and receives another name, showing that he has become changed for the better, being now not [mere] flesh and …

    Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)