Remember then what you received and heard: the two verbs received and heard do not necessarily refer to two separate actions but to the one action of their having been taught the lessons of the Christian faith. “Remember the truths (or, lessons) you were taught.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “remember how you first heard the message.” Barclay has two separate events: “keep remembering the faith you have received, and the instructions you were given.” Another possible way of translating is provided by Bible en français courant: “Remember then the teaching you have received, and remember how you heard it.” In languages that do not use the passive, one may say “Remember, then, the Christian truths that they taught you,” where “they” is an unknown agent.

Keep that, and repent: the verb keep here means not only to preserve but to put into practice, to obey, to follow. So another way of expressing this clause is “You must follow (or, obey) these truths.” For repent see comments at 2.5. In some cases it may be better to reverse the order of the two verbs: “turn from your sins and obey their teachings.”

If you will not awake: this points back to the command in verse 2.

I will come like a thief: this is a coming to punish them, not the final coming. This coming will be unexpected, without any warning, as explained in the following and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. These words recall Jesus’ warning in Matt 24.43-44; Luke 12.29-30 (see also 1 Thes 5.2, 4). One may also translate this final clause as “I will come unexpectedly as a thief comes, and you will not even know….”

Alternative translation models for this verse are the following:

• Call to mind (or, Remember) the Christian truths that they taught you and which you heard; you must stop sinning and obey these truths. If you do not wake up, I will come unexpectedly, just as a thief comes (at night), and you will not even know the time when I will come to punish you.

Or:

• … If you are not awake, you will not know the time when I will come to punish you, because I will come unexpectedly like….

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 .