Section 2:8–11

Jesus spoke to the church at Smyrna

In this section, Jesus spoke to the people who believed in him at Smyrna. He saw that they were suffering and poor but strong in their faith. He saw that they were persecuted, and he encouraged them to continue following him. Lastly, he gave a promise for any believer who persevered in his faith.

Other examples of headings for this section are:

The Message to Smyrna (Good News Translation)
-or-
Jesus gave a message for the church at Smyrna
-or-
Advice to the group of believers at Smyrna

Translate this heading as you did for the message to the church at Ephesus (2:1–7).

Paragraph 2:8–10

2:8a

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: You should translate this introduction the same way you did in 2:1. You only need to change the name to Smyrna. You probably will not need to repeat the footnote of 2:1a here.

2:8b–c

These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and returned to life: These words are an introduction to the words in 2:9–11. You should translate the phrase These are the words of in a similar way to 2:1. Some of those ways here are:

This is the message from the one who is the first and the last, who died and lived again (Good News Translation)
-or-

The message of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again, is this :

Jesus spoke these words about himself. He continues to speak in 2:9 with “I.” In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Jesus was talking about someone else here. If that is true in your language, indicate that Jesus spoke about himself. For example:

These are my words, and I am the First and the Last. I died and came to life again.

the First and the Last: The title the First and the Last indicates that Jesus existed before all things and will exist after everything in this world ends. This title implies that he is therefore greater than anyone or anything and has authority over everything. See how you translated this title in 1:17.

2:8c

who died and returned to life: This clause further describes Jesus. He died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later. Other ways to translate this clause are:

the one who died and lived again
-or-
who died and lived again (Good News Translation)
-or-
who was dead but is now alive (New Living Translation (2004))

There are similar words at 1:18 (“I was dead, and behold, now I am alive”).

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