Revelation 2:6

2:6 But you do have this going for you: ¹  You hate what the Nicolaitans ²  practice ³  – practices I also hate.

Revelation 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ⁴  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ⁵  before the people ⁶  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Grk “But you do have this.” The words “going for you” are supplied to complete the English idiom; other phrases like “in your favor” (NIV) or “to your credit” (NRSV) could also be supplied.

² sn The Nicolaitans were a sect (sometimes associated with Nicolaus, one of the seven original deacons in the church in Jerusalem according to Acts 6:5) that apparently taught that Christians could engage in immoral behavior with impunity.

³ tn The expression τὰ ἔργα τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν (ta erga twn Nikolaitwn) has been translated as a subjective genitive.

⁴ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

⁵ 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…”

⁶ 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).

⁷ 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.”