These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand^q and walks among the seven golden lampstands.^r ²I know your deeds,^s your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested^t those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.^u ³You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name,^v and have not grown weary.

⁴Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.^w ⁵Consider how far you have fallen! Repent^x and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand^y from its place. ⁶But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans,^z which I also hate.

⁷Whoever has ears, let them hear^a what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,^b I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,^c which is in the paradise^d of God.

To the Church in Smyrna

⁸“To the angel of the church in Smyrna^e write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last,^f who died and came to life again.^g ⁹I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!^h I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not,ⁱ but are a synagogue of Satan.^j ¹⁰Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you,^k and you will suffer persecution for ten days.^l Be faithful,^m even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.ⁿ

¹¹Whoever has ears, let them hear^o what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.^p

To the Church in Pergamum

¹²“To the angel of the church in Pergamum^q write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.^r ¹³I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me,^s not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness,^t who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.^u

¹⁴Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:^v There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam,^w who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols^x and committed sexual immorality.^y ¹⁵Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.^z ¹⁶Repent^a therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.^b

¹⁷Whoever has ears, let them hear^c what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,^d I will give some of the hidden manna.^e I will also give that person a white stone with a new name^f written on it, known only to the one who receives it.^g

To the Church in Thyatira

¹⁸“To the angel of the church in Thyatira^h write:

These are the words of the Son of God,ⁱ whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.^j ¹⁹I know your deeds,^k your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

²⁰Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel,^l who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.^m ²¹I have given her timeⁿ to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.^o ²²So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery^p with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. ²³I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds,^q and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.^r

²⁴Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you,^s ²⁵except to hold on to what you have^t until I come.’^u

²⁶To the one who is victorious^v and does my will to the end,^w I will give authority over the nations^x—²⁷that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter^y and will dash them to pieces like pottery’^b^z—just as I have received authority from my Father. ²⁸I will also give that one the morning star.^a ²⁹Whoever has ears, let them hear^b what the Spirit says to the churches.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

aOr messenger; also in verses 8, 12 and 18
b Psalm 2:9

Cross references

pSee Ac 18:19
q Rev 1:16
r Rev 1:12, 13
sver 19; Rev 3:1, 8, 15
t 1 Jn 4:1
u 2 Co 11:13
vSee Jn 15:21
w Jer 2:2; Mt 24:12
xver 16, 22; Rev 3:3, 19
y Rev 1:20
zver 15
aSee Mt 11:15; ver 11, 17, 29; Rev 3:6, 13, 22; 13:9
bSee Jn 16:33
c Ge 2:9; 3:22–24; Rev 22:2, 14, 19
d Lk 23:43
e Rev 1:11
fSee Rev 1:17
g Rev 1:18
h 2 Co 6:10; Jas 2:5
i Rev 3:9
jver 13, 24; See Mt 4:10
k Rev 3:10
l Da 1:12, 14
mver 13; Rev 17:14
nSee Mt 10:22; See 1 Co 9:25
oSee ver 7
p Rev 20:6, 14; 21:8
q Rev 1:11
rver 16; See Rev 1:16
s Rev 14:12
t Rev 1:5; 11:3
uver 9, 24; See Mt 4:10
vver 20
wSee 2 Pe 2:15
xSee Ac 15:20
y 1 Co 6:13
zver 6
aSee ver 5
b 2 Th 2:8; See Rev 1:16
cSee ver 7
dSee Jn 16:33
e Jn 6:49, 50
f Isa 56:5; 62:2; 65:15
g Rev 19:12
hver 24; Ac 16:14; Rev 1:11
iSee Mt 4:3
jSee Rev 1:14, 15
kSee ver 2
l 1 Ki 16:31; 21:25; 2 Ki 9:7
mver 14; See Ac 15:20
n Ro 2:4; 2 Pe 3:9
o Ro 2:5; Rev 9:20; 16:9, 11
p Rev 17:2; 18:9
q 1 Sa 16:7; 1 Ki 8:39; Ps 139:1, 2, 23; Pr 21:2; Jer 17:10; Lk 16:15; Ro 8:27; 1 Th 2:4
rSee Mt 16:27
s Ac 15:28
t Rev 3:11
uSee Mt 16:27
vSee Jn 16:33
w Mt 10:22
x Ps 2:8; Rev 3:21
y Rev 12:5; 19:15
z Ps 2:9; Isa 30:14; Jer 19:11
a Rev 22:16
bSee ver 7