Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ¹  woman ²  Jezebel, ³  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ⁴  my servants ⁵  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ⁶ 

Revelation 3:18

3:18 take my advice ⁷  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ⁸  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ⁹  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ¹⁰  to put on your eyes so you can see!

Revelation 3:20-21

3:20 Listen! ¹¹  I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home ¹²  and share a meal with him, and he with me. 3:21 I will grant the one ¹³  who conquers ¹⁴  permission ¹⁵  to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered ¹⁶  and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Revelation 17:1

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17:1 Then ¹⁷  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. ¹⁸  “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment ¹⁹  of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

[2:20]  ¹ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

[2:20]  ² tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

[2:20]  ³ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

[2:20]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[2:20]  ⁶ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.

[3:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ¹⁰ sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).

[3:20]  ¹³ tn Grk “Behold.”

[3:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “come in to him.”

[3:21]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “The one who conquers, to him I will grant.”

[3:21]  ²⁰ tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”

[3:21]  ²¹ tn Grk “I will give [grant] to him.”

[3:21]  ²² tn Or “have been victorious”; traditionally, “have overcome.”

[17:1]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.”

[17:1]  ²⁷ tn Here one Greek term, κρίμα (krima), has been translated by the two English terms “condemnation” and “punishment.” See BDAG 567 s.v. 4.b, “mostly in an unfavorable sense, of the condemnatory verdict and sometimes the subsequent punishment itself 2 Pt 2:3; Jd 4…τὸ κ. τῆς πόρνης the condemnation and punishment of the prostitute Rv 17:1.”