Bible Strands

Revelation 2:9

I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The speaker identifies as "the First and the Last, who died and returned to life" (2:8), addressing the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the second of seven letters to Asian churches, the one directed to a community under active persecution.

The words — θλῖψιν (thlipsin), "tribulation" or "affliction," is the same word that appears in the next verse's "tribulation for ten days," binding the present suffering to the coming test.

The thread — The phrase "synagogue of Satan" recurs in Revelation 3:9, where those same false claimants are promised a different fate. James 2:5 and 2 Corinthians 8:9 both invert the expected equation of material wealth and spiritual standing.

Why it lands — The verse holds two facts in one breath: you are poor, and you are rich. It asks the reader to refuse the slanderers' framing without denying the reality of their own material loss.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

οἶδάoidaI knowσουsouyourτὰta<the>ἔργαergaworksκαὶkaiandτὴνtēn<the>θλῖψινthlipsintribulationκαὶkaiandτὴνtēn<the>πτωχείαν,ptōcheianpoverty —ἀλλὰallabutπλούσιοςplousiosrichδὲdenowεἶ,eiyou are —καὶkaiandτὴνtēntheβλασφημίανblasphēmianslanderἐκekfromτῶνtōnthoseλεγόντωνlegontōnclaimingἸουδαίουςIoudaiousJewsεἶναιeinaito beἑαυτοὺςhe'autousthemselvesκαὶkaiandοὐκouknotεἰσίν,eisinare,ἀλλὰallabutσυναγωγὴsunagōgēa synagogueτοῦtou<the>σατανᾶ.satanaof Satan.

King James Version

I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Cross-references