Revelation 3:9

3:9 Listen! ¹  I am going to make those people from the synagogue ²  of Satan – who say they are Jews yet ³  are not, but are lying – Look, I will make ⁴  them come and bow down ⁵  at your feet and acknowledge ⁶  that I have loved you.

Revelation 21:8

21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, ⁷  idol worshipers, ⁸  and all those who lie, their place ⁹  will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. ¹⁰  That ¹¹  is the second death.”

[3:9]  ¹ tn Grk “behold” (L&N 91.13).

[3:9]  ² sn See the note on synagogue in 2:9.

[3:9]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast between what these people claimed and what they were.

[3:9]  ⁴ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew), but in this context it has virtually the same meaning as δίδωμι (didwmi) used at the beginning of the verse. Stylistic variation like this is typical of Johannine literature.

[3:9]  ⁵ tn The verb here is προσκυνήσουσιν (proskunhsousin), normally used to refer to worship.

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Or “and know,” “and recognize.”

[21:8]  ⁷ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

[21:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “idolaters.”

[21:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “their share.”

[21:8]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[21:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”