Revelation 2:14-15

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, 1  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block 2  before the people 3  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 4  2:15 In the same way, there are also some among you who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 5 

1 sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

2 tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

3 tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

4 tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”

5 tn The term ὁμοίως (Jomoiws, “likewise”) is left untranslated because it is quite redundant.

sn See the note on the term Nicolaitans in 2:6.