1 “To the messenger of the Ephesian assembly write: These things says He who is holding the seven stars in His right hand, who is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 I have known your works, and your labor, and your endurance, and that you are not able to bear evil ones, and that you have tried those saying themselves to be apostles and are not, and have found them liars, 3 and you bore, and have endurance, and have toiled because of My Name, and have not been weary. 4 But I have against you that you left your first love! 5 Remember, then, from where you have fallen, and convert, and do the first works; and if not, I come to you quickly, and will remove your lampstand from its place—if you may not convert; 6 but this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, that I also hate. 7 He who is having an ear—let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies: To him who is overcoming—I will give to him to eat of the Tree of Life that is in the midst of the paradise of God. 8 And to the messenger of the assembly of the Smyrneans write: These things says the First and the Last, who became dead and lived: 9 I have known your works, and tribulation, and poverty—yet you are rich—and the slander of those saying themselves to be Jews, and are not, but [are] a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of the things that you are about to suffer; behold, the Devil is about to cast [some] of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you will have tribulation ten days; become faithful to death, and I will give to you the garland of life. 11 He who is having an ear—let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies: He who is overcoming may not be injured of the second death. 12 And to the messenger of the assembly in Pergamos write: These things says He who is having the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I have known your works, and where you dwell—where the throne of Satan [is]—and you hold fast My Name, and you did not deny My faith, even in the days in which Antipas [was] My faithful witness, who was put to death beside you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: that you have there those holding the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol-sacrifices, and to commit whoredom; 15 so have you, even you, those holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans—which thing I hate. 16 Convert! And if not, I come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 He who is having an ear—let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies: To him who is overcoming, I will give to him to eat from the hidden manna, and will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, that no one knew except him who is receiving [it]. 18 And to the messenger of the assembly of Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, who is having His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like to frankincense-colored brass: 19 I have known your works, and love, and ministry, and faith, and your endurance, and your works—and the last [are] more than the first. 20 But I have a few things against you: that you allow the woman Jezebel, who is calling herself a prophetess, to teach, and to lead astray, My servants to commit whoredom, and to eat idol-sacrifices; 21 and I gave to her a time that she might convert from her whoredom, and she did not convert; 22 behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those committing adultery with her into great tribulation—if they may not convert from her works, 23 and I will kill her children in death, and all the assemblies will know that I am He who is searching affections and hearts; and I will give to you—to each—according to your works. 24 And to you I say, and to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as do not have this teaching, and who did not know the depths of Satan, as they say—I will not put on you another burden, 25 but hold that which you have, until I may come; 26 and he who is overcoming, and who is keeping My works to the end, I will give to him authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron—they will be broken as the vessels of the potter—as I have also received from My Father; 28 and I will give to him the morning star. 29 He who is having an ear—let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”
Revelation · Literal Standard Version
Revelation 2 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Antipas
Called Christ's faithful witness, killed at Pergamum where Satan dwells.
Cited in the guide: Revelation 2:13
Jezebel
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
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Revelation 1:20; Revelation 1:16; Revelation 1:11–13; Revelation 3:7; Revelation 2:18
- 2 1 John 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1–3; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15; Revelation 3:8
- 3 Hebrews 10:36; Galatians 6:9; James 5:7–11; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:3–4
- 4 Matthew 24:12–13; Jeremiah 2:2–5; Hebrews 6:10–11; Philippians 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:3
- 5 Revelation 3:2–3; Revelation 3:19; Revelation 2:16; Hosea 14:1; Acts 17:30–31
- 6 Psalm 26:5; Psalm 101:3; 2 John 9–10; Revelation 2:14–15; 2 Chronicles 19:2
- 7 Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:43; Revelation 13:9
- 8 Revelation 1:17–18; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 2:1
- 9 Revelation 3:9; James 2:5–6; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Romans 9:6; 2 Corinthians 6:10
- 10 James 1:12; Matthew 10:22; Revelation 3:10–11; Luke 21:16–19; Mark 13:13
- 11 Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:17
- 12 Revelation 2:16; Revelation 1:16; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 1:11
- 13 Revelation 2:9–10; 1 Timothy 5:8; Revelation 3:8–9; Revelation 3:11; Acts 22:20
- 14 Numbers 31:16; 2 Peter 2:15; Revelation 2:20; Numbers 25:1–3; Jude 11
- 15 Revelation 2:6
- 16 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 2:5; Isaiah 11:4
- 17 Isaiah 62:2; Isaiah 65:15; Revelation 19:12–13; Revelation 3:12–13; Revelation 2:7
- 18 Revelation 1:14–15; Revelation 1:11; John 3:35–36; Psalm 2:7; John 5:25
- 19 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Peter 1:7; John 15:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Revelation 2:2–4
- 20 Revelation 2:14; 1 Kings 16:31; 1 Corinthians 10:18–21; Acts 15:29; 2 Kings 9:7
- 21 2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4–5; Revelation 9:20–21; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:9
- 22 Revelation 17:2; Luke 13:5; Ezekiel 16:37–41; Jeremiah 36:3; Revelation 18:3
- 23 Matthew 16:27; Psalm 7:9; Romans 8:27; 1 Peter 1:17; Acts 1:24
- 24 2 Corinthians 2:11; Revelation 12:9; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Acts 15:28; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15
- 25 Revelation 3:3; Revelation 3:11; Hebrews 10:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Revelation 22:7
- 26 Revelation 3:21; Revelation 2:7; Daniel 7:27; Psalm 2:8; Revelation 20:4
- 27 Psalm 2:8–9; Revelation 12:5; Revelation 19:15; Isaiah 30:14; Matthew 11:27
- 28 Revelation 22:16; 2 Peter 1:19; Luke 1:78–79
- 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).
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
… 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 …