What Does Revelation 2:3 Mean?
And you have borne up under, and you have carried for my name's sake, and you have not been worn down.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.THE KEY
The name is the nature being served, so this verse measures endurance by what it remains true to, not by how little it costs.
THE MEANING
You carry the weight, remain under it, and labor for the nature held in his name; the strain is real, yet it does not have the final word over your work. This is endurance with a center: the effort continues because the one named is its reason.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that real endurance means feeling no strain: the verse names both strenuous labor and the refusal to be overcome by it.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὄνομα
onoma
name, character, reputation
The Greek word ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) can carry the sense of character, authority, or reputation as well as a designation. “For my name’s sake” locates the labor in the nature of the one named, not in a verbal formula.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: to name, call, or mention
ὀνομάζω
This branch ties the name to the act of naming or identifying someone.
onomastos: named, renowned
ὀνομαστός
This branch shows how a name can also carry the character or reputation by which someone is known.
ὑπομονή
hypomonē
GROWS FROM
μένω
menō
remain, stay, abide
“borne up under” in this verse is hypomonē. ὑπομονή (hypomonē, “patience” or “endurance”) is built from ὑπό (hypo, “under”) and μένω (menō, “remain”): it pictures remaining under pressure. Its root also gives μονή (monē, “dwelling”), placing endurance in the family of staying and abiding rather than mere waiting.
ALSO GROWS
hypomenō: to remain under, endure
ὑπομένω
This verb makes patience an ongoing act of staying under what presses on you.
monē: dwelling, abode
μονή
This branch connects endurance with the root sense of remaining and staying.
κεκοπίακας
kekopiakas
GROWS FROM
κόπος
kopos
toil, exhausting labor, fatigue
The Greek pairs κεκοπίακας (kekopiakas, “you have laboured”) with κεκοπίακες (kekopiakes, “you have grown weary”), forms from the same κοπιάω (kopiaō, “to toil, grow weary”) word-family. The verse holds effort and endurance together: the labor is real, but it has not exhausted you.
ALSO GROWS
kopos: toil, labor, trouble
κόπος
This noun names the hard work that the verse says you have carried out.
kopiaō: to toil, work hard, grow weary
κοπιάω
This verb-family holds strenuous labor and weariness together, clarifying the force of “laboured” and “not fainted.”
THE PATTERN
Endurance keeps working under strain because its purpose is anchored in the name it serves.
But those who wait upon the LORD exchange their strength; they rise on wings like eagles; they run and do not tire; they walk and do not faint.You will be hated by all for my nature's sake, but whoever remains under to the end, this one will be delivered.So then, my beloved brothers, be steady, unmoved, always overflowing in the work of the Lord, seeing that your toil is not empty in the Lord.THE THREAD
For consider him who has remained under such speaking against himself, from those who miss the mark, so that you do not tire, going slack in your living souls.The word translated “endured” is ὑπομένω (hypomenō, “remain under”), built from the same root as ὑπομονή (hypomonē, “patience”) in Revelation 2:3. Hebrews names weariness openly, showing that endurance and strain coexist in the same person.
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