Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
The book of Revelation contains letters from Jesus to seven real churches in the ancient Roman world. This message is addressed to the church in Thyatira, a city in what is now western Turkey. Jesus has just commended this church for their love, faith, service, and perseverance — but then names a serious problem: they have allowed a woman who calls herself a prophet to teach among them, and her teaching is drawing people into sexual immorality and the worship of idols. The name "Jezebel" is a pointed reference to a notorious queen in the Old Testament (1 Kings 16–21) who actively led Israel into worshipping false gods — using her name here signals that Jesus views this as a grave danger. The church's failure isn't simply that this teacher exists among them; it's that they have chosen to tolerate her without challenge.
God, give me the courage to love people enough to tell them the truth — and the wisdom to do it gently. Protect me from a tolerance that looks like kindness but leaves people in harm's way. Help me care more about what is true and good than about staying comfortable. Amen.
Here's the uncomfortable thing about this letter: the church at Thyatira was doing a lot right. Jesus had just commended their love, their service, their perseverance. By most measures, they were a good church. But good churches can have a tolerance problem — not the admirable kind where we welcome broken people with grace, but the passive kind where harmful things grow unchallenged because confronting them feels unkind, divisive, or just exhausting. Their tolerance had become a virtue quietly eating the community from the inside. This verse doesn't give us permission to become suspicious or combative in our faith communities. But it presses a harder question: Is there something you've been tolerating — in your church, your close friendships, your own habits — not because you genuinely believe it's fine, but because speaking up feels like too much trouble? Truth-telling in love is one of the hardest practices of faith. It requires caring more about someone's actual wellbeing than about keeping the peace at Sunday lunch. That's not comfortable. But it may be exactly what love sometimes looks like.
Who was the biblical Jezebel, and why do you think Jesus uses that name here rather than simply describing what this woman is teaching?
Where in your own life have you tolerated something you knew wasn't right, simply because confronting it felt too costly or too awkward?
This verse puts tolerance and discernment in tension with each other. How do you tell the difference between being graciously open-minded and being passively complicit in something harmful?
How should a community of faith respond when someone in a position of influence is teaching or modeling something destructive? What does that actually look like in a real congregation?
Is there a conversation you've been avoiding with someone you care about — one where genuine love requires honesty? What would it take for you to have it?
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Revelation 2:4
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
2 Timothy 3:8
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:19
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:20
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Acts 15:29
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
1 Corinthians 10:21
And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
Acts 21:9
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.
Revelation 2:14
But I have this [charge] against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [claiming to be inspired], and she teaches and misleads My bond-servants so that they commit [acts of sexual] immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols.
AMP
But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
ESV
'But I have [this] against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit [acts of] immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
NASB
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
NIV
Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
NKJV
“But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman — that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet — to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.
NLT
"But why do you let that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet mislead my dear servants into Cross-denying, self-indulging religion?
MSG