Revelation 3 · Verse 19

Revelation 3:19

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Revelation 3:19, King James Version

Revelation 3:19 in other translations

BSBThose I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
WEBAs many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
ASVAs many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
YLT‘As many as I love, I do convict and chasten; be zealous, then, and reform;
DARBYI rebuke and discipline as many as I love; be zealous therefore and repent.
BBETo all those who are dear to me, I give sharp words and punishment: then with all your heart have sorrow for your evil ways.
WebsterAs many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

What does Revelation 3:19 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
19. (Job 5:17; Pr 3:11, 12; He 12:5, 6.) So in the case of Manasseh (2Ch 33:11-13). As many--All. "He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. And shalt thou be an exception? If excepted from suffering the scourge, thou art excepted from the number of the sons" [Augustine]. This is an encouragement to Laodicea not to despair, but to regard the rebuke as a token for good, if she profit by it. I love--Greek, "philo," the love of gratuitous affection, independent of any grounds for esteem in the object loved. But in the case of Philadelphia (Re 3:9), "I have loved thee" (Greek, "egapesa") with the love of esteem, founded on the judgment. Compare the note in my English Gnomon of Bengel, Joh 21:15-17. I rebuke--The "I" in the Greek stands first in the sentence emphatically. I in My dealings, so altogether unlike man's, in the case of all whom I love, rebuke. The Greek, "elencho," is the same verb as in Joh 16:8, "(the Holy Ghost) will convince (rebuke unto conviction) the world of sin." chasten--"chastise." The Greek, "paideu," which in classical Greek means to instruct, in the New Testament means to instruct by chastisement (He 12:5, 6). David was rebuked unto conviction, when he cried, "I have sinned against the Lord"; the chastening followed when his child was taken from him (2Sa 12:13, 14). In the divine chastening, the sinner at one and the same time winces under the rod and learns righteousness. be zealous--habitually. Present tense in the Greek, of a lifelong course of zeal. The opposite of "lukewarm." The Greek by alliteration marks this: Laodicea had not been "hot" (Greek, "zestos"), she is therefore urged to "be zealous" (Greek, "zeleue"): both are derived from the same verb, Greek, "zeo," "to boil." repent--Greek aorist: of an act to be once for all done, and done at once.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Of course, only on the supposition that they deserve it. The meaning is, that it is a proof of love on his part, if his professed friends go astray, to recall them by admonitions and by trials. So a father calls back his children who are disobedient; and there is no higher proof of his love than when, with great pain to himself, he administers such chastisement as shall save his child. See the sentiment here expressed fully explained. Heb 12:6, seq. The language is taken from Prov 3:12

Be zealous therefore, and repent. Be earnest, strenuous, ardent in your purpose to exercise true repentance, and to turn from the error of your ways. Lose no time; spare no labour, that you may obtain such a state of mind that it shall not be necessary to bring upon you the severe discipline which always comes on those who continue lukewarm in religion. The truth taught here is, that when the professed followers of Christ have become lukewarm in his service, they should lose no time in returning to him, and seeking his favour again. As sure as he has any true love for them, if this is not done, he will bring upon them some heavy calamity, alike to rebuke them for their errors, and to recover them to himself.

(c) "As many" Heb 12:5,6

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 19 As many as I love - So it was the love he still had to them that induced him thus to reprehend and thus to counsel them. Be zealous - Be in earnest, to get your souls saved, They had no zeal; this was their bane. He now stirs them up to diligence in the use of the means of grace and repentance for their past sins and remissness.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Revelation 3:14-22

Laodicea was the last and worst of the seven churches of Asia. Here our Lord Jesus styles himself, "The Amen;" one steady and unchangeable in all his purposes and promises. If religion is worth anything, it is worth every thing. Christ expects men should be in earnest. How many professors of gospel doctrine are neither hot nor cold; except as they are indifferent in needful matters, and hot and fiery in disputes…

Read the full comment on Revelation 3:14-22 →

Revelation 3:19 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ἐγὼegōI myselfG1473
ὅσουςhosousas many asG3745
ἐὰνeanifG1437
φιλῶphilōshall loveG5368
ἐλέγχωelegchōI rebukeG1651
καὶkaiandG2532
παιδεύω.paideuōdiscipline.G3811
ζήλευεzēleuedo be jealous
οὖνounthereforeG3767
καὶkaiandG2532
μετανόησον.metanoēsondo repent.G3340

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Revelation 3:19

  • Proverbs 3:11-12

    My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

  • 1 Corinthians 11:32

    But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

  • Hebrews 12:5-11

    And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. …

  • Job 5:17

    Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

  • Revelation 2:5

    Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

  • Jeremiah 31:18

    I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.

  • 2 Corinthians 7:11

    For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

  • Jeremiah 10:24

    O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

  • Proverbs 22:15

    Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

  • 2 Samuel 7:14

    I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

  • Deuteronomy 8:5

    Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.

  • Revelation 2:21-22

    And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
many.
De 8:5; 2Sa 7:14; Job 5:17; Ps 6:1; 39:11; 94:10; Pr 3:11,12; 15:10
Pr 15:32; 22:15; Isa 26:16; Jer 2:30; 7:28; 10:24; 30:11; 31:18
Zep 3:2; 1Co 11:32; 2Co 6:9; Heb 12:5-11; Jas 1:12
be.
Nu 25:11-13; Ps 69:9; Joh 2:17; Ro 12:11; 2Co 7:11; Ga 4:18
Tit 2:14
repent.
2:5,21,22

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Revelation 3:18

    I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

  • Revelation 3:19

    As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

  • Revelation 3:20

    Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Read all of Revelation 3

Revelation 3:19 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Yo reprendo y castigo á todos los que amo: sé pues celoso, y arrepiéntete.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Moi, je reprends et je châtie tous ceux que j’aime; aie donc du zèle et repens-toi.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich überführe und züchtige, so viele ich liebe. Sei nun eifrig und tue Buße!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Ego quos amo, arguo, et castigo. Æmulare ergo, et pœnitentiam age.