Discovery BoxRevelation 2:4 
Context2:4 But I have this against you: You have departed 1 from your first love!
Revelation 2:14
Context2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, 2 who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block 3 before the people 4 of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 5
1 tn The Greek word translated “departed from” (ἀφίημι, afihmi; L&N 15.48) can actually be used of divorce (L&N 34.78), so the imagery here is very strong.
2 sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.
3 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…”
4 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).
5 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.”
