Revelation 2:14 BSB

Revelation 2:14

But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

KJV

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

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Commentary

2 voices

Irenaeus

Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus (202)

"And Balsam the son of Beor they slew with the sword." For, speaking no longer by the Spirit of God, but setting up another law of fornication contrary to the law of God, this man shall no longer be reckoned as a prophet, but as a soothsayer. For, as he did not continue in the commandment of God, he received the just reward of his evil devices.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

I have a few things against thee - Their good deeds are first carefully sought out and commended; what was wrong in them is touched with a gentle but effectual hand. The followers of Balaam, the Nicolaitanes, and the Gnostics, were probably all the same kind of persons; but see on Rev 2:6 (note). What the doctrine of Balaam was, see the notes on Num 24:1 (note) through Num 25:18; and Numbers 31:1-54 (note).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

26 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ἀλλ᾽	all᾽	But	G235 →
ἔχω	echō	I have	G2192 →
κατὰ	kata	against	G2596 →
σοῦ	sou	you	G4771 →
ὀλίγα	oliga	a few things	G3641 →
ὅτι	hoti	because	G3754 →
ἔχεις	echeis	you have	G2192 →
ἐκεῖ	ekei	[some] there	G1563 →
κρατοῦντας	kratountas	holding	G2902 →
τὴν	tēn	the	G3588 →
διδαχὴν	didachēn	teaching	G1322 →
Βαλαάμ,	Balaam	of Balaam,	G903 →
ὃς	hos	who	G3739 →
ἐδίδασκεν	edidasken	was teaching	G1321 →
τῷ	tō	<the>	G3588 →
Βαλὰκ	Balak	Balak	G904 →
βαλεῖν	balein	to cast	G906 →
σκάνδαλον	skandalon	a snare	G4625 →
ἐνώπιον	enōpion	before	G1799 →
τῶν	tōn	the	G3588 →
υἱῶν	huiōn	sons	G5207 →
Ἰσραὴλ	Israēl	of Israel	G2474 →
φαγεῖν	phagein	to eat	G5315 →
εἰδωλόθυτα	eidōlothuta	idol-sacrifices	G1494 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
πορνεῦσαι.	porneusai	to commit sexual immorality.	G4203 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Acts 15:29
You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
leads to
- Acts 15:20
  Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Acts 21:25
  As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
- Revelation 2:20
  But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Through
Revelation 2:20
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
leads to
- 1 Kings 16:31
  And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then…
- 1 Corinthians 10:18–21
  Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar?
Through
Numbers 31:16
“Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.
leads to
- Numbers 25:1–9
  While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- 2 Peter 2:15
  They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
Through
2 Peter 2:15
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
leads to
- Jude 1:11
  Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

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