What Does Revelation 2:2 Mean in the King James?
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
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
You can endure labor without carrying evil, because patience and toleration are different actions in the Greek.
THE MEANING
Your work and strain are seen, along with your capacity to endure them. That endurance does not require you to carry evil or accept a claim to spiritual authority without examination; false claims can be exposed as lies.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Patience means accepting whatever is put before you. This verse separates enduring strain from carrying evil or trusting an untested claim.
THE ROOT
ὑπομονή
hypomonē
GROWS FROM
μένω (menō), with ὑπό (hypo, under)
Remain, stay; in this compound, remain under.
The word translated “patience” pictures staying under strain. The nearby “bear” is a different Greek verb, so endurance here does not mean carrying evil along.
ALSO GROWS
hypomenō: Endure; remain under
ὑπομένω
It shares the “remain” element and makes the endurance in this verse concrete.
monē: A dwelling or place to remain
μονή
It echoes the same staying language, showing the root’s connection between remaining and abiding.
βαστάσαι
bastasai
GROWS FROM
βαστάζω
bastazō
Carry, bear, or shoulder.
“Bear” here is the language of carrying, not the “remain under” language used for patience. The verse holds endurance and refusal together: strain is endured, while evil is not carried.
ALSO GROWS
bastagma: A burden or thing carried
βάσταγμα
It makes the carrying image explicit and clarifies the force of “bear” in the verse.
bastazōn: Carrying or bearing
βαστάζων
This participle from the same verb family preserves the image of taking something up and carrying it.
ψευδεῖς
pseudeis
GROWS FROM
ψευδ-
pseud-
Falsehood, lying, or deception.
“liars” in this verse is pseudeis. The claim to be apostles is tested, and the result is named plainly: they are false. The same word-family connects lying with false prophetic claims, so authority is exposed by what proves true.
ALSO GROWS
pseudomai: To lie
ψεύδομαι
It names the act behind the “liars” identified in the verse.
pseudoprophētēs: False prophet
ψευδοπροφήτης
It joins falsehood to a religious claim, as this verse does with the claim to be apostles.
THE PATTERN
Claims to spiritual authority are tested by whether they withstand examination and prove true.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.THE THREAD
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.The “liars” here and the “false prophets” in 1 John share the Greek ψευδ- (pseud-) word-family. The parallel also opens the action of this verse: spiritual claims are tested rather than trusted by title alone.
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