12:11a

They: The pronoun They refers to believers (12:10d) here.

conquered: This word means “triumphed” or “obtained victory.” Here it refers to having success over Satan in all the ways he tried to defeat them. Other ways to translate this word are:

overcame (New International Version)
-or-
have defeated (New Living Translation (2004))

by the blood of the Lamb: This phrase refers figuratively to the death of Jesus. Jesus’ death was a sacrifice that makes believers pure before God.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate a different meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Explain the meaning in your translation. For example:

by the blood of the Lamb ⌊through his death⌋
-or-
by the blood of the Lamb ⌊by his sacrifice on the cross⌋

• Translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:

through the blood sacrifice of the Lamb
-or-
by the Lamb’s sacrificial death ⌊on the cross⌋

• Translate literally and explain its meaning in a footnote. For example:

This phrase refers figuratively to the death of Jesus. Jesus died as a sacrifice to make believers pure before God.

Lamb: This word refers to a young sheep. Here, it is used as a title for Jesus. Many English versions capitalize the word Lamb here to indicate it is used as a title. See how you translated this word in 5:6 or 7:17.

12:11b

by the word of their testimony: There are several ways to interpret the Greek phrase. The main interpretations are:

(1) It means by the word to which they testified. They testified about the gospel of Jesus. For example:

by the word to which they bore witness (New Jerusalem Bible)

(2) It means by the word that consists of their testimony. They testified and their own words are important here. For example:

by the witness they bore (Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). However, if a literal translation implies interpretation (1), you may want to translate literally. For example:

by the word of their testimony (Revised Standard Version)

testimony: The word testimony means “the words spoken about what one saw.” It implies that the spoken words are truthful and accurate. Other ways to translate this word are:

witness (Revised English Bible)
-or-
message about what happened

Some languages translate this meaning using a verb. For example:

speaking about what they know

See how you translated this word in 1:2.

12:11c

And: This word introduces a further explanation of how the believers overcame Satan. 12:11c describes the third way that believers overcame Satan. For example:

and (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
for (Revised Standard Version)

Some English versions do not translate this word, but choose to leave the connection with 12:11b implicit. Do what is most natural in your language.

they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death: When unbelievers ordered these believers to deny Jesus, they refused. So the unbelievers killed them. The believers were willing to die rather than be unfaithful to Jesus. Other ways to translate this are:

they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
faced with death they did not cling to life (Revised English Bible)
-or-
they continued to believe even though that lead to their death
-or-
they did not love their life most, but rather they ⌊held strong to their faith and⌋ let themselves be killed

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