Discovery BoxRevelation 2:9 
Context2:9 ‘I know the distress you are suffering 1 and your poverty (but you are rich). I also know 2 the slander against you 3 by those who call themselves Jews and really are not, but are a synagogue 4 of Satan.
Revelation 3:8
Context3:8 ‘I know your deeds. (Look! I have put 5 in front of you an open door that no one can shut.) 6 I know 7 that you have little strength, 8 but 9 you have obeyed 10 my word and have not denied my name.
1 tn Or “know your suffering.” This could refer to suffering or distress caused by persecution (see L&N 22.2).
2 tn Because of the length and complexity of this Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the phrase “I also know” to link this English sentence back to “I know” at the beginning of the verse.
3 tn The words “against you” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
4 sn A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (e.g., Mt 4:23, Mk 1:21, Lk 4:15, Jn 6:59).
5 tn Grk “I have given.”
6 tn Grk “to shut it,” but English would leave the direct object understood in this case.
sn The entire statement is parenthetical, interrupting the construction found in other letters to the churches in 3:1 and 3:15, “I know your deeds, that…” where an enumeration of the deeds follows.
7 tn This translation is based on connecting the ὅτι (Joti) clause with the οἶδα (oida) at the beginning of the verse, giving the content of what is known (see also 3:1, 3:15 for parallels). Because of the intervening clause that is virtually parenthetical (see the note on the word “shut” earlier in this verse), the words “I know that” from the beginning of the verse had to be repeated to make this connection clear for the English reader. However, the ὅτι could be understood as introducing a causal subordinate clause instead and thus translated, “because you have.”
8 tn Or “little power.”
9 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
10 tn Grk “and having kept.” The participle ἐτήρησας (ethrhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. For the translation of τηρέω (threw) as “obey” see L&N 36.19. This is the same word that is used in 3:10 (there translated “kept”) where there is a play on words.
