This letter begins the same way as the previous letter (see 2.8). Pergamum was not as large a commercial city as Ephesus, but it was a very important religious center, with temples dedicated to Zeus and other gods, including Asclepias, the god of healing. Pergamum was also the leading center of the worship of Roman emperors, the first city in the province in which a temple had been dedicated to “the divine Augustus and the goddess Roma.” When the kingdom of Pergamum became part of the Roman Empire in 133 B.C., the city of Pergamum became the capital of the province of Asia. It is not certain, however, whether it was still the capital at the end of the first century A.D. It was in Pergamum that the process of turning animal skins into parchment was developed; the word “parchment” is derived from the name Pergamum.

The words of: see comments at 2.1.

Him who has the sharp two-edged sword: see the comments at 1.16. So the verb has does not mean “carries” as such; it only indicates possession, and translators should use a verb that has this rather ambiguous meaning.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .