Revelation 2:20
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Study Note
Study Note
The charge to Thyatira — 'I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols' — applies the Old Testament Jezebel narrative (1 Kings 16:31; 2 Kings 9:22) as a typological label for a Thyatiran teacher advocating accommodation to Greco-Roman guild practices. Participation in trade guild banquets often involved food offered to patron deities and sexual practices associated with cultic prostitution, creating a genuine pastoral tension between economic participation and covenantal fidelity. The severity of Christ's announced judgment (2:22-23) — illness, tribulation, and death for those who followed her teaching — signals that the issue is not merely ceremonial but a fundamental loyalty question. The passage has been pivotal in discussions of Christian cultural engagement and the limits of accommodation to ambient social practices.
Other Translations
But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
`But I have against thee a few things: That thou dost suffer the woman Jezebel, who is calling herself a prophetess, to teach, and to lead astray, my servants to commit whoredom, and idol-sacrifices to eat;
But I have this against you, that you let the woman Jezebel say she is a prophet and give false teaching, making my servants go after the desires of the flesh and take food offered to false gods.
Cross References
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who …
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that …
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s …
Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience …
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which …
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, …
Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and …