REV 2:16 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) So turn away from all that, otherwise I’ll come soon and battle against them with the word of my mouth.

Key: khaki:verbs, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Repent, therefore! But if not, I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth.

UST But what the disciples of Nicolaus teach is wrong. So everyone in your group must stop doing those things! Now if some of you do not stop, I will immediately judge those people. I will pronounce a sentence of judgment against them and punish them.

2:16 ALT, F35, TH, and TR do not include Therefore.

BLB Therefore repent! But if not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

AICNT Repent [therefore];[fn] or else I will come to you quickly and will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

2:16, therefore: Absent from some manuscripts. ℵ(01) THGNT TR

OEB Therefore repent, or else, I will come quickly and contend with such people with words that will cut like a sword.

WEBBE Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Therefore, repent! If not, I will come against you quickly and make war against those people with the sword of my mouth.

LSV Convert! And if not, I come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

FBV So repent, or soon I will come to you and fight against them using the sword of my mouth.

TCNT [fn]Therefore repent. Otherwise, I will come to yoʋ quickly and make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

2:16 Therefore repent 𝔐^K [61%] ¦ Repent 𝔐^A,C ECM^† PCK TH TR [39%]

T4T So you must stop doing this. If you do not stop doing it, I will come to you suddenly. Using the words that I will say I will fight against those who believe this false teaching [MTY], and I will ◄condemn them/say that they must be punished►.

LEB Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth.

BBE See, then, that you have a change of heart; or I will come to you quickly, and will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Moff Repent; if not, I will very soon come to you and make war upon them with the sword of my mouth.

Wymth Repent, at once; or else I will come to you quickly, and will make war upon them with the sword which is in My mouth.

ASV Repent therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

DRA In like manner do penance: if not, I will come to thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

YLT 'Reform! and if not, I come to thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Drby Repent therefore: but if not, I come to thee quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword of my mouth.

RV Repent therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.
(Repent therefore; or else I come to thee/you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. )

SLT Repent; and if not, I come to thee swiftly, and will wage war with them with the sword of my mouth.

Wbstr Repent; or else I will come to thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

KJB-1769 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
( Repent; or else I will come unto thee/you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. )

KJB-1611 Repent, or else I will come vnto thee quickly, and wil fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps Repent, or els I wyll come vnto thee shortly, and wyll fyght agaynst them with the sworde of my mouth.
(Repent, or else I will come unto thee/you shortly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.)

Gnva Repent thy selfe, or els I will come vnto thee shortly, and will fight against them with the sworde of my mouth.
(Repent thyself/yourself, or else I will come unto thee/you shortly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. )

Cvdl But be couerted, or elles I wil come vnto the shortly, and wil fight agaynste the with the swearde of my mouth.
(But be coverted, or elles I will come unto the shortly, and will fight against the with the sword of my mouth.)

TNT But be converted or elles I will come vnto the shortly and will fyght agaynste the with thes wearde of my mouth
(But be converted or elles I will come unto the shortly and will fight against the with these wearde of my mouth )

Wycl Also do thou penaunce; `yif ony thing lesse, Y schal come soone to thee, and Y schal fiyte with hem with the swerd of my mouth.
(Also do thou/you penance; yif any thing less, I shall come soon to thee/you, and I shall fight with hem with the sword of my mouth.)

Luth Tu Buße; wo aber nicht, so werde ich dir bald kommen und mit ihnen kriegen durch das Schwert meines Mundes.
(Do/Act Buße; where but not, so become I you/to_you(sg) soon coming and with to_them get through the sword my mouth.)

ClVg Similiter pœnitentiam age: si quominus veniam tibi cito, et pugnabo cum illis in gladio oris mei.
(Similarly/Likewise repentance age: when/but_if quominus I_will_come to_you quickly, and fightbo when/with to_them in/into/on with_a_sword mouth my/mine. )

UGNT μετανόησον οὖν! εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι ταχύ, καὶ πολεμήσω μετ’ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματός μου.
(metanoaʸson oun! ei de maʸ, erⱪomai soi taⱪu, kai polemaʸsō met’ autōn en taʸ ɽomfaia tou stomatos mou.)

SBL-GNT μετανόησον οὖν· εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι ταχύ, καὶ πολεμήσω μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματός μου.
(metanoaʸson oun; ei de maʸ, erⱪomai soi taⱪu, kai polemaʸsō metʼ autōn en taʸ ɽomfaia tou stomatos mou.)

RP-GNT Μετανόησον οὖν· εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι ταχύ, καὶ πολεμήσω μετ' αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματός μου.
(Metanoaʸson oun; ei de maʸ, erⱪomai soi taⱪu, kai polemaʸsō met' autōn en taʸ ɽomfaia tou stomatos mou.)

TC-GNT Μετανόησον [fn]οὖν· εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι ταχύ, καὶ πολεμήσω μετ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματός μου.
(Metanoaʸson oun; ei de maʸ, erⱪomai soi taⱪu, kai polemaʸsō meta autōn en taʸ ɽomfaia tou stomatos mou. )

2:16 ουν 𝔐^K [61%] ¦ — 𝔐^A,C ECM^† PCK TH TR [39%]

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, orange:accents differ, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:12–17: Jesus spoke to the church at Pergamum

In this section, Jesus spoke to the people who believed in him at Pergamum. He saw that they had remained faithful to him despite opposition and persecution. But he warned them not to allow people believing in false teachings to remain in the church. He warned them to repent. Lastly, he gave a promise for any believer who persevered in his faith.

Translate this heading as you did for the messages to the churches at Ephesus and Smyrna.

2:16a

Therefore repent!

So, repent!
Therefore, stop sinning and change your thinking,

repent!: This word is a command to change one’s mind, heart, and actions. See how you translated this word in 2:5.

2:16b

Otherwise I will come to you shortly

But if you do not repent, I will come to you soon
or I will come to/against you quickly

Otherwise: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as Otherwise is literally “But if not.” It introduces what will happen to those holding to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans if they do not repent. Other ways to translate the Greek phrase are:

If not, (RSV)

or (NJB)

But if you do not repent

I will come to you shortly: Christ indicated here that he would come for the purpose of fighting against the sinners in the church in Pergamum (2:16c). This purpose is not in regard to gathering all believers. In other words, this action does not refer to the second coming of Jesus.

2:16c

and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.

and fight a war against those people with the war machete of my mouth.
in order to make war against them with the fighting knife from my mouth.

wage war against them with the sword of My mouth: The Greek word that the BSB translates as wage war means “make war” (as in the NRSV). Other ways to translate this word are:

fight a war against them with the sword of my mouth

war against them with the sword of my mouth

If this group in the church was sinning believers, then these words refer to severe discipline. If this group was Nicolaitans pretending to be believers, then these words may refer to judging them worthy of death. Translate these words so that they allow either interpretation.

them: This pronoun refers to those people in the church who follow the false teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.

with the sword of My mouth: This phrase refers to the sword also mentioned in 1:16b and 2:12b. The sword is of Jesus’ mouth because it came out from Jesus’ mouth.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

εἰ δὲ μή

if (Some words not found in SR-GNT: μετανόησον Οὖν εἰ Δέ μή ἔρχομαι σοί ταχύ καί πολεμήσω μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματος μού)

Jesus is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need in order to be complete. You could supply these words from earlier in the sentence if that would be clearer in your language. Alternate translation: [But if you do not repent]

Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns

αὐτῶν

them

The pronoun them refers to the “ones holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans,” whom Jesus describes in the previous verse. It may be helpful to clarify this for your readers. Alternate translation: [these people who obey the teachings of the Nicolaitans]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

πολεμήσω μετ’ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματός μου

˱I˲_˓will_be˒_warring with them with the sword ˱of˲_the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: μετανόησον Οὖν εἰ Δέ μή ἔρχομαι σοί ταχύ καί πολεμήσω μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματος μού)

Jesus is speaking as if he will literally wage war against the disobedient believers in Pergamum with the sword in his mouth. He likely means that he will announce a punishment against them that will become effective as soon as he speaks it. You could say that in your translation. The UST models one way to do that. However, since the symbol of the sword comes from the opening vision in the book, and since Jesus uses it to identify himself at the beginning of this letter, and since the symbol also appears in one of the last visions in the book, in [19:15-21](../19/15.md), you may wish to retain the symbol in your translation rather than state the meaning plainly here.

Parallel REV 2:16

Section 2:12–17: Jesus spoke to the church at Pergamum

2:16a

2:16b

2:16c