2:1 “To the messenger of the Congregation in Ephesus, write this:“These are the words of the one firmly grasping the seven stars in his right hand, the one walking among the seven golden lampstands:

2:2 I have seen what you’ve been doing, your hard labor and endurance, and that you don’t put up with the depraved. You tested their claims to be Ambassadors (they are not) and found those claims to be false.

2:3 You have endured and upheld my name tirelessly.

2:4 “But I have this against you: you have let go of the devotion you had at first.

2:5 Remember, then, the height from which you have fallen, and change your mind. Do the things you once did, because if you don’t, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

2:6 But at least you have this going for you: you despise what the Nicolaitans do, just as much as I.

2:7 “Let those with ears pay attention to what the Spirit is saying to the Congregations! To those who conquer I will give food from the Tree of Life which is in the middle of the Paradise of God.

2:8 “To the messenger of the Congregation in Smyrna, write this:“These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and then lived again:

2:9 I have seen the pressure you’ve been under, and your poverty (yet you are rich!), and the slander of those who claim to be Judeans but are not (they are a congregation of the Adversary).

2:10 But do not fear what you are about to experience. Look! The False Accuser is going to throw you into prison to test you, and you will be under pressure for ten days. Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will award you the gift of life.

2:11 “Let those with ears pay attention to what the Spirit is saying to the Congregations! Those who conquer will absolutely not be harmed by the Second Death.

2:12 “To the messenger of the Congregation in Pergamos, write this:“These are the words of the one having the sharp, double-edged broadsword.

2:13 I have seen where you live— where the Adversary’s throne is. But you hold tightly to my name and have not renounced my faith, even in the days when my faithful martyr Antipas was killed among you— where the Adversary lives.

2:14 “But I have a few things against you: that you have some people there who are holding tightly to the teaching of Balaam, who advised Balak to set a trap for the people of Israel and entice them to eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice promiscuity.

2:15 You likewise have some who have adopted and hold tightly to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

2:16 Change your minds, then! Otherwise I will suddenly come to you and battle with them with the broadsword from my mouth.

2:17 “Let those with ears pay attention to what the Spirit is saying to the Congregations! To those who conquer I will give the hidden manna, and also a white pebble with a new name written on it, which no one knows but the one holding it.

2:18 “To the messenger of the Congregation in Thyatira, write this:“These are the words of the God-Man, the one whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished copper.

2:19 I have seen what you’ve been doing, your love and faith and service, your endurance, and that you are doing more now than you were at first.

2:20 “But I have this against you: you let that woman Jezebel go around saying she’s a prophet, teaching and misleading my slaves to practice promiscuity and eat food sacrificed to idols.

2:21 I gave her time to change her mind, but she won’t give up her promiscuity.

2:22 Look! I am throwing her and her clients into a bed of great suffering if they don’t turn back from her practices.

2:23 And I will strike her children dead so that all the Congregations will know I am the one who searches minds and hearts; everyone will get what’s coming to them!

2:24 “Yet I say this to the rest in Thyatira who do not hold to this teaching, who have not known the so-called ’deep things of the Adversary’: I will not put any other weight on you,

2:25 except that you hold on tight until I arrive.

2:26 To the ones who conquer and guard my actions to the end, I will give jurisdiction over the non-Judeans.

2:27 They will ‘shepherd them with a rod of iron and crush them like earthenware jars’, just as I too have received jurisdiction from my Father,

2:28 and I will give the ones who conquer the Morning Star.

2:29 “Let those with ears pay attention to what the Spirit is saying to the Congregations!