Revelation 2:3
ESV
I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name 's sake, and you have not grown weary.
NIV
You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
NASB
and you have perseverance and have endured on account of My name, and have not become weary.
CSB
I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary.
NLT
You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.
KJV
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
NKJV
and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
What does Revelation 2:3 mean?
This verse continues Jesus' commendation of the church at Ephesus. He compliments the Ephesian believers on their steadfast endurance of hardships and persecution. In 2 Timothy 2:24, the apostle Paul instructed Timothy that the servant of the Lord must patiently endure evil. Timothy was pastor of the church at Ephesus when Paul wrote those words. It seems that Timothy practiced patient endurance and inspired the church to follow his example. For more than forty years, from its inception, the church had endured antagonistic treatment for Jesus' sake, but it had not fainted.In writing to the Galatian churches, Paul addressed this quality of faithfully serving the Lord without giving up. He wrote: "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). The church at Ephesus was exemplary in regard to its perseverance, but it was not perfect, as we learn from the next verse.
