What Does Revelation 2:14 Mean in the King James?
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Balaam’s teaching does not merely name a wrong path; it shows how instruction can place a trap that draws others into it.
THE MEANING
This verse names a danger wherever counsel shapes what a community accepts: instruction can make a snare look like participation. Here the trap runs through food sacrificed to idols and sexual betrayal, joining allegiance to appetite. The verse speaks to you wherever a teacher’s guidance forms the path others are invited to follow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that teaching is harmless simply because it arrives as instruction or invitation; counsel can be used to set a trap for others.
THE ROOT
σκάνδαλον
skandalon
GROWS FROM
σκανδαλ-
Greek stem
A trap trigger, snare, or cause of stumbling.
The word can carry the sense of a snare, making the stumblingblock more than an accidental obstacle: it is something placed in another’s path. The verse presents Balaam’s teaching as the means of setting that trap.
ALSO GROWS
skandalizō: To cause to stumble or ensnare.
σκανδαλίζω
The verb makes the trap an action: someone can cause another to fall by what they place in the way.
skandalismos: A cause of stumbling or offense.
σκανδαλισμός
This related noun keeps the sense of a placed cause of falling, echoing the snare described here.
διδαχή
didachē
GROWS FROM
διδαχ- (from διδάσκω, didaskō)
Teaching or instruction.
“doctrine” in this verse is didachē. This word names instruction that can shape conduct, not just an abstract opinion. In this verse, the teaching has a practical destination: it guides others toward a snare.
ALSO GROWS
didaskō: To teach or instruct.
διδάσκω
This verb shows the action behind the doctrine: someone teaches a path others may follow.
didaskalia: Teaching or instruction.
διδασκαλία
This related word likewise carries the sense of instruction, underscoring how teaching can form the conduct described in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A stumbling point can be planted through what people are invited to accept, until participation becomes a snare.
And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!THE THREAD
But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.“Stumblingblock” translates the same Greek word, σκάνδαλον (skandalon), in both verses. Revelation shows a trap deliberately set through teaching; here, even a person’s liberty can become a cause of falling for someone else.
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