The Meaning of Revelation 2:14 Explained

Revelation 2:14

KJV: 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.

YLT: 'But I have against thee a few things: That thou hast there those holding the teaching of Balaam, who did teach Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol-sacrifices, and to commit whoredom;

Darby: But I have a few things against thee: that thou hast there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel, to eat of idol sacrifices and commit fornication.

ASV: But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Revelation 2:14 Mean?

Study Notes

The "doctrine" of Balaam
The doctrine of Balaam (CF) See Scofield " Judges 1:11 " was his teaching Balak to corrupt the people who could not be cursed.; Numbers 31:15 ; Numbers 31:16 ; Numbers 22:5 ; Numbers 23:8 by tempting them to marry women of Moab, defile their separation, and abandon their pilgrim character. It is that union with the world and the church which is spiritual unchastity. James 4:4 . Pergamos had lost the pilgrim character and was "dwelling" Revelation 2:13 "where Satan's throne is," in the world.; John 12:31 ; John 14:30 ; John 16:11 .
Balaam
Balaam. (See Scofield " Numbers 22:5 ") was the typical hireling prophet, anxious only to make a market of his gift. This is the "way" of Balaam. See the "error" of Balaam, See Scofield " Judges 1:11 " and the "doctrine" of Balaam, See Scofield " Revelation 2:14 ".

Context Summary

Revelation 2:12-17 - Beware Of Evil Teachers
Notice the Lord's commendation of the church at Pergamos (from which we get our word parchment). He recognizes their peculiar dangers and their difficulties-where Satan's seat is. It was an honorable thing to have held fast Christ's name under such circumstances. To hold fast His name is to be loyal to Him in all circumstances. Not to deny His faith is to hold fast to the essential facts and doctrines of primitive Christianity, undeterred by the blandishments or threats of the world.
For the doctrine of Balaam, we must turn to Numbers, Numbers 22:1-41; Numbers 23:1-30; Numbers 24:1-25, and then especially to Numbers 25:1 and Numbers 31:16. Balaam had failed to curse, but though he had thereby forfeited his prestige and payment, he won them back by advising Balak to corrupt the morals of Israel and so break their union with Jehovah. The Nicolaitanes apparently promulgated similar tenets, and in their proud and wealthy city were prepared to admit orthodoxy of doctrine so long as it was combined with laxity of morals. But Christ cannot for a moment tolerate such a conjunction. His judgment sword must vindicate the purity of His Church. [source]

Chapter Summary: Revelation 2

1  What is commanded to be written to the angels, that is, the ministers of the churches of Ephesus,
8  Smyrna,
12  Pergamos,
18  Thyatira, and what is commended and lacking in them

Greek Commentary for Revelation 2:14

There [εκει]
That is παρ υμιν — par' humin (among you). A party in the church that resisted emperor-worship, to the death in the case of Antipas, yet were caught in the insidious wiles of the Nicolaitans which the church in Ephesus withstood. [source]
Some that hold [κρατουντας]
“Men holding” (present active participle of κρατεω — krateō).The teaching of Balaam (την διδαχην αλααμ — tēn didachēn Balaam). Indeclinable substantive Balaam (Numbers 25:1-9; Numbers 31:15.). The point of likeness of these heretics with Balaam is here explained.Taught Balak Imperfect indicative of διδασκω — didaskō Balaam‘s habit, “as the prototype of all corrupt teachers” (Charles). These early Gnostics practised licentiousness as a principle since they were not under law, but under grace (Romans 6:15). The use of the dative with διδασκω — didaskō is a colloquialism rather than a Hebraism. Two accusatives often occur with διδασκω — didaskō cast a stumbling-block Second aorist active infinitive (accusative case after εδιδασκεν — edidasken) of βαλλω — ballō regular use with σκανδαλον — skandalon (trap) like τιτημι σκανδαλον — tithēmi skandalon in Romans 14:13. Balaam, as Josephus and Philo also say, showed Balak how to set a trap for the Israelites by beguiling them into the double sin of idolatry and fornication, which often went together (and do so still).To eat things sacrificed to idols (παγειν ειδωλοτυτα — phagein eidōlothuta). Second aorist active infinitive of εστιω — esthiō and the verbal adjective (from ειδωλον — eidōlon and τυω — thuō), quoted here from Numbers 25:1., but in inverse order, repeated in other order in Revelation 2:20. See Acts 15:29; Acts 21:25; 1 Corinthians 8:1. for the controversy over the temptation to Gentile Christians to do what in itself was harmless, but which led to evil if it led to participation in the pagan feasts. Perhaps both ideas are involved here. Balaam taught Balak how to lead the Israelites into sin in both ways. [source]
The teaching of Balaam [την διδαχην αλααμ]
Indeclinable substantive Balaam (Numbers 25:1-9; Numbers 31:15.). The point of likeness of these heretics with Balaam is here explained. [source]
Taught Balak [εδιδασκεν τωι αλακ]
Imperfect indicative of διδασκω — didaskō Balaam‘s habit, “as the prototype of all corrupt teachers” (Charles). These early Gnostics practised licentiousness as a principle since they were not under law, but under grace (Romans 6:15). The use of the dative with διδασκω — didaskō is a colloquialism rather than a Hebraism. Two accusatives often occur with διδασκω — didaskō cast a stumbling-block Second aorist active infinitive (accusative case after εδιδασκεν — edidasken) of βαλλω — ballō regular use with σκανδαλον — skandalon (trap) like τιτημι σκανδαλον — tithēmi skandalon in Romans 14:13. Balaam, as Josephus and Philo also say, showed Balak how to set a trap for the Israelites by beguiling them into the double sin of idolatry and fornication, which often went together (and do so still).To eat things sacrificed to idols (παγειν ειδωλοτυτα — phagein eidōlothuta). Second aorist active infinitive of εστιω — esthiō and the verbal adjective (from ειδωλον — eidōlon and τυω — thuō), quoted here from Numbers 25:1., but in inverse order, repeated in other order in Revelation 2:20. See Acts 15:29; Acts 21:25; 1 Corinthians 8:1. for the controversy over the temptation to Gentile Christians to do what in itself was harmless, but which led to evil if it led to participation in the pagan feasts. Perhaps both ideas are involved here. Balaam taught Balak how to lead the Israelites into sin in both ways. [source]
To eat things sacrificed to idols [παγειν ειδωλοτυτα]
Second aorist active infinitive of εστιω — esthiō and the verbal adjective (from ειδωλον — eidōlon and τυω — thuō), quoted here from Numbers 25:1., but in inverse order, repeated in other order in Revelation 2:20. See Acts 15:29; Acts 21:25; 1 Corinthians 8:1. for the controversy over the temptation to Gentile Christians to do what in itself was harmless, but which led to evil if it led to participation in the pagan feasts. Perhaps both ideas are involved here. Balaam taught Balak how to lead the Israelites into sin in both ways. [source]
Doctrine [διδαχὴν]
Rev., better, teaching. [source]
Things sacrificed to idols [εἰδωλόθυτα]
In the A.V. the word is rendered in four different ways: meats offered to idols (Acts 15:29): things offered to idols (Acts 21:25): things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols (1 Corinthians 8:4); and as here Rev., uniformly, things sacrificed to idols. The eating of idol meats, which was no temptation to the Jewish Christian, was quite otherwise to the Gentile. The act of sacrifice, among all ancient nations, was a social no less than a religious act. Commonly only a part of the victim was consumed as an offering, and the rest became the portion of the priests, was given to the poor, or was sold again in the markets. Hence sacrifice and feast were identified. The word originally used for killing in sacrifice ( θύειν ) obtained the general sense of killing (Acts 10:13). Among the Greeks this identification was carried to the highest pitch. Thucydides enumerates sacrifices among popular entertainments. “We have not forgotten,” he says, “to provide for our weary spirits many relaxations from toil. We have regular games and sacrifices throughout the year” (ii., 38). So Aristotle: “And some fellowships seem to be for the sake of pleasure; those of the followers of Love, and those of club-diners; for these are for the sake of sacrifice and social intercourse” (“Ethics,” viii., 9,5). Suetonius relates of Claudius, the Roman Emperor, that, on one occasion, while in the Forum of Augustus, smelling the odor of the banquet which was being prepared for the priests in the neighboring temple of Mars, he left the tribunal and placed himself at the table with the priests (“Claudius,” 33). Also how Vitellius would snatch from the altar-fire the entrails of victims and the corn, and consume them (“Vitellius,” 13). Thus, for the Gentile, “refusal to partake of the idol-meats involved absence from public and private festivity, a withdrawal, in great part, from the social life of his time.” The subject is discussed by Paul in Romans 14:2-21, and 1 Corinthians 8:1-11:1. The council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) forbade the eating of meat offered to idols, not as esteeming it forbidden by the Mosaic law, but as becoming a possible occasion of sin to weak Christians. In his letter to the Corinthians, among whom the Jewish and more scrupulous party was the weaker, Paul, in arguing with the stronger and more independent party, never alludes to the decree of the Jerusalem council, but discusses the matter from the stand-point of the rights of conscience. While he admits the possibility of a blameless participation in a banquet, even in the idol-temple, he dissuades from it on the ground of its dangerous consequences to weak consciences, and as involving a formal recognition of the false worship which they had renounced at their baptism. “In the Epistle to the Romans we see the excess to which the scruples of the weaker brethren were carried, even to the pitch of abstaining altogether from animal food; as, ill the Nicolaitans of the Apocalyptic churches, we see the excess of the indifferentist party, who plunged without restraint into all the pollutions, moral as well as ceremonial, with which the heathen rites were accompanied” (Stanley, “On Corinthians”). “It may be noted as accounting for the stronger and more vehement language of the Apocalypse, considered even as a simply Human book, that the conditions of the case had altered. Christians and heathen were no longer dwelling together, as at Corinth, with comparatively slight interruption to their social intercourse, but were divided by a sharp line of demarcation. The eating of things sacrificed to idols was more and more a crucial test, involving a cowardly shrinking from the open confession of a Christian's faith. Disciples who sat at meat in the idol's temple were making merry with those whose hands were red with the blood of their fellow-worshippers, and whose lips had uttered blaspheming scoffs against the Holy Name” (Plumptre). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In times of persecution, tasting the wine of the libations or eating meat offered to idols, was understood to signify recantation of Christianity. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

Balaam []
See Numbers 25:1-9; Numbers 31:15, Numbers 31:16. Compare 2 Peter 2:15; Judges 1:11. [source]
A stumbling-block [σκάνδαλον]
See on offend, Matthew 5:29, and see on offense, Matthew 16:23. [source]
Before [ἐνώπιον]
Lit., in the sight of. See on Luke 24:11. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 2:14

1 Corinthians 8:10 Idol's temple [εἰδωλείῳ]
Only here in the New Testament. See on Revelation 2:14. [source]
1 Corinthians 8:1 Things offered unto idols [εἰδωλοθύτων]
See on Revelation 2:14. [source]
1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols [περι δε των ειδωλοτυτων]
Plainly the Corinthians had asked also about this problem in their letter to Paul (1 Corinthians 7:1). This compound adjective The connection between idolatry and impurity was very close, especially in Corinth. See both topics connected in Revelation 2:14, Revelation 2:20. By ειδωλοτυτα — eidōlothuta was meant the portion of the flesh left over after the heathen sacrifices. The heathen called it ιεροτυτον — hierothuton (1 Corinthians 10:28). This leftover part “was either eaten sacrificially, or taken home for private meals, or sold in the markets” (Robertson and Plummer). What were Christians to do about eating such portions either buying in the market or eating in the home of another or at the feast to the idol? Three questions are thus involved and Paul discusses them all. There was evidently difference of opinion on the subject among the Corinthian Christians. Aspects of the matter come forward not touched on in the Jerusalem Conference to which Paul does not here allude, though he does treat it in Galatians 2:1-10. There was the more enlightened group who acted on the basis of their superior knowledge about the non-existence of the gods represented by the idols. [source]
1 John 2:10 Occasion of stumbling [σκάνδαλον]
See on offend, Matthew 5:29. For the image in John, see John 6:61; John 11:9; John 16:1; Revelation 2:14. The meaning is not that he gives no occasion of stumbling to others, but that there is none in his own way. See John 11:9, John 11:10. [source]
2 John 1:9 Of Christ []
Not the teaching concerning Christ, but the teaching of Christ Himself and of His apostles. See Hebrews 2:3. So according to New Testament usage. See John 18:19; Acts 2:12; Revelation 2:14, Revelation 2:15. [source]
Revelation 2:6 The Nicolaitans []
From νικᾶν toconquer, and λαός thepeople. There are two principal explanations of the term. The first and better one historical. A sect springing, according to credible tradition, from Nicholas a proselyte of Antioch, one of the seven deacons of Jerusalem (Acts 6:5), who apostatized from the truth, and became the founder of an Antinomian Gnostic sect. They appear to have been characterized by sensuality, seducing Christians to participate in the idolatrous feasts of pagans, and to unchastity. Hence they are denoted by the names of Balaam and Jezebel, two leading agents of moral contamination under the Old Testament dispensation. Balaam enticed the Israelites, through the daughters of Moab and Midian, to idolatry and fornication (Numbers href="/desk/?q=nu+31:16&sr=1">Numbers 31:16). Jezebel murdered the Lord's prophets, and set up idolatry in Israel. The Nicolaitans taught that, in order to master sensuality, one must know the whole range of it by experience; and that he should therefore abandon himself without reserve to the lusts of the body, since they concerned only the body and did not touch the spirit. These heretics were hated and expelled by the Church of Ephesus (Revelation 2:6), but were tolerated by the Church of Pergamum (Revelation 2:15). The other view regards the name as symbolic, and Nicholas as the Greek rendering of Balaam, whose name signifies destroyer or corrupter of the people. This view is adopted by Trench (“Seven Churches”), who says: “The Nicolaitans are the Balaamites; no sect bearing the one name or the other; but those who, in the new dispensation, repeated the sin of Balaam in the old, and sought to overcome or destroy the people of God by the same temptations whereby Balaam had sought to overcome them before.” The names, however, are by no means parallel: Conqueror of the people not being the same as corrupter of the people. Besides, in Revelation 2:14, the Balaamites are evidently distinguished from the Nicolaitans. Alford remarks: “There is no sort of reason for interpreting the name otherwise than historically. It occurs in a passage indicating simple matters of historical fact, just as the name Antipas does in Revelation 2:13.”-DIVIDER-
[source]

Revelation 2:1 These things [ταδε]
This demonstrative seven times here, once with the message to each church (Revelation 2:1, Revelation 2:8, Revelation 2:12, Revelation 2:18; Revelation 2:1, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:14), only once elsewhere in N.T. (Acts 21:11).He that holdeth (ο κρατων — ho kratōn). Present active articular participle of κρατεω — krateō a stronger word than εχων — echōn in Revelation 1:16, to which it refers.He that walketh Present active articular participle of περιπατεω — peripateō an allusion to Revelation 1:13. These two epithets are drawn from the picture of Christ in Revelation 1:13-18, and appropriately to conditions in Ephesus describe Christ‘s power over the churches as he moves among them. [source]
Revelation 5:4 I wept much [εγω εκλαιον πολυ]
Imperfect active of κλαιω — klaiō picturesque, descriptive, I kept on weeping much; natural tense in these vivid visions (Revelation 1:12; Revelation 2:14; Revelation 5:4, Revelation 5:14; Revelation 6:8, Revelation 6:9; Revelation 10:10; Revelation 19:14; Revelation 21:15). Perhaps weeping aloud. [source]
Revelation 2:17 Of the hidden manna [τοῦ μάννα τοῦ κεκρυμμένου]
The allusion may be partly to the pot of manna which was laid up in the ark in the sanctuary. See Exodus 16:32-34; compare Hebrews 9:4. That the imagery of the ark was familiar to John appears from Revelation 11:19. This allusion however is indirect, for the manna laid up in the ark was not for food, but was a memorial of food once enjoyed. Two ideas seem to be combined in the figure: 1. Christ as the bread from heaven, the nourishment of the life of believers, the true manna, of which those who eat shall never die (John 6:31-43, John 6:48-51); hidden, in that He is withdrawn from sight, and the Christian's life is hid with Him in God (Colossians 3:3). 2. The satisfaction of the believer's desire when Christ shall be revealed. The hidden manna shall not remain for ever hidden. We shall see Christ as He is, and be like Him (1 John 3:2). Christ gives the manna in giving Himself “The seeing of Christ as He is, and, through this beatific vision, being made like to Him, is identical with the eating of the hidden manna, which shall, as it were, be then brought forth from the sanctuary, the holy of holies of God's immediate presence where it was withdrawn from sight so long, that all may partake of it; the glory of Christ, now shrouded and concealed, being then revealed to His people” (Trench). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
This is one of numerous illustrations of the dependence of Revelation upon Old Testament history and prophecy. “To such an extent is this the case,” says Professor Milligan, “that it may be doubted whether it contains a single figure not drawn from the Old Testament, or a single complete sentence not more or less built up of materials brought from the same source.” See, for instance, Balaam (Revelation 2:14); Jezebel (Revelation 2:20); Michael (Revelation 12:7, compare Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1); Abaddon (Revelation 9:11); Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, Babylon, the Euphrates, Sodom, Egypt (Revelation 21:2; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 16:19; Revelation 9:14; Revelation 11:8); Gog and Magog (Revelation 20:8, compare Revelation href="/desk/?q=re+2:7&sr=1">Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:27, Revelation 2:28). Heaven is described under the figure of the tabernacle in the wilderness (Revelation 11:1, Revelation 11:19; Revelation 6:9; Revelation 8:3; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 4:6). The song of the redeemed is the song of Moses (Revelation 15:3). The plagues of Egypt appear in the blood, fire, thunder, darkness and locusts (Revelation 8:1-13). “The great earthquake of chapter 6 is taken from Haggai; the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becoming blood (Revelation 8:1-13) from Joel: the stars of heaven falling, the fig-tree casting her untimely figs, the heavens departing as a scroll (Revelation 8:1-13) from Isaiah: the scorpions of chapter 9 from Ezekiel: the gathering of the vine of the earth (chapter 14) from Joel, and the treading of the wine-press in the same chapter from Isaiah.” So too the details of a single vision are gathered out of different prophets or different parts of the same prophet. For instance, the vision of the glorified Redeemer (Revelation 1:12-20). The golden candlesticks are from Exodus and Zechariah; the garment down to the foot from Exodus and Daniel; the golden girdle and the hairs like wool from Isaiah and Daniel; the feet like burnished brass, and the voice like the sound of many waters, from Ezekiel; the two-edged sword from Isaiah and Psalms; the countenance like the sun from Exodus; the falling of the seer as dead from Exodus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the laying of Jesus' right hand on the seer from Daniel. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
“Not indeed that the writer binds himself to the Old Testament in a slavish spirit. He rather uses it with great freedom and independence, extending, intensifying, or transfiguring its descriptions at his pleasure. Yet the main source of his emblems cannot be mistaken. The sacred books of his people had been more than familiar to him. They had penetrated his whole being. They had lived within him as a germinating seed, capable of shooting up not only in the old forms, but in new forms of life and beauty. In the whole extent of sacred and religious literature there is to be found nowhere else such a perfect fusion of the revelation given to Israel with the mind of one who would either express Israel's ideas, or give utterance, by means of the symbols supplied by Israel's history, to the present and most elevated thoughts of the Christian faith “(this note is condensed from Professor Milligan's “Baird Lectures on the Revelation of St. John”).A white stone ( ψῆφον λευκὴν )See on counteth, Luke 14:28; and see on white, Luke 9:29. The foundation of the figure is not to be sought in Gentile but in Jewish customs. “White is everywhere the color and livery of heaven” (Trench). See Revelation 1:14; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 7:9; Revelation 14:14; Revelation 19:8, Revelation 19:11, Revelation 19:14; Revelation 20:11. It is the bright, glistering white. Compare Matthew 28:3; Luke 24:4; John 20:12; Revelation 20:11; Daniel 7:9. It is impossible to fix the meaning of the symbol with any certainty. The following are some of the principal views: The Urim and Thummim concealed within the High-Priest's breastplate of judgment. This is advocated by Trench, who supposes that the Urim was a peculiarly rare stone, possibly the diamond, and engraven with the ineffable name of God. The new name he regards as the new name of God or of Christ (Revelation 3:12); some revelation of the glory of God which can be communicated to His people only in the higher state of being, and which they only can understand who have actually received. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Professor Milligan supposes an allusion to the plate of gold worn on the High-Priest's forehead, and inscribed with the words “Holiness to the Lord,” but, somewhat strangely, runs the figure into the stone or pebble used in voting, and regards the white stone as carrying the idea of the believer's acquittal at the hands of God. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Dean Plumptre sees in the stone the signet by which, in virtue of its form or of the characters inscribed on it, he who possessed it could claim from the friend who gave it, at any distance of time, a frank and hearty welcome; and adds to this an allusion to the custom of presenting such a token, with the guest's name upon it, of admission to the feast given to those who were invited to partake within the temple precincts - a feast which consisted wholly or in part of sacrificial meats. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Others, regarding the connection of the stone with the manna, refer to the use of the lot cast among the priests in order to determine which one should offer the sacrifice. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Others, to the writing of a candidate's name at an election by ballot upon a stone or bean. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In short, the commentators are utterly divided, and the true interpretation remains a matter of conjecture.A new nameSome explain the new name of God or of Christ (compare Revelation 3:12); others, of the recipient's own name. “A new name however, a revelation of his everlasting title as a son of God to glory in Christ, but consisting of and revealed in those personal marks and signs of God's peculiar adoption of himself, which he and none other is acquainted with” (Alford). Bengel says: “Wouldst thou know what kind of a new name thou wilt obtain? Overcome. Before that thou wilt ask in vain, and after that thou wilt soon read it inscribed on the white stone.” [source]

Revelation 2:6 Of the Nicolaitans [των Νικολαιτων]
Mentioned again in Revelation 2:15 and really meant in Revelation 2:2. Irenaeus and Hippolytus take this sect to be followers of Nicolaus of Antioch, one of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5), a Jewish proselyte, who is said to have apostatized. There was such a sect in the second century (Tertullian), but whether descended from Nicolaus of Antioch is not certain, though possible (Lightfoot). It is even possible that the Balaamites of Revelation 2:14 were a variety of this same sect (Revelation 2:15).Which I also hate (α καγω μισω — ha kagō misō). Christ himself hates the teachings and deeds of the Nicolaitans (α — ha not ους — hous deeds, not people), but the church in Pergamum tolerated them. [source]

What do the individual words in Revelation 2:14 mean?

But I have against you a few things because you have [some] there holding the teaching of Balaam who would teach - Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality
Ἀλλ’ ἔχω κατὰ σοῦ ὀλίγα ὅτι ἔχεις ἐκεῖ κρατοῦντας τὴν διδαχὴν Βαλαάμ ὃς ἐδίδασκεν τῷ Βαλὰκ βαλεῖν σκάνδαλον ἐνώπιον τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα καὶ πορνεῦσαι

ἔχω  I  have 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ἔχω  
Sense: to have, i.e. to hold.
κατὰ  against 
Parse: Preposition
Root: κατά 
Sense: down from, through out.
ὀλίγα  a  few  things 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: ὀλίγος  
Sense: little, small, few.
ὅτι  because 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
ἔχεις  you  have 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: ἔχω  
Sense: to have, i.e. to hold.
ἐκεῖ  [some]  there 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ἐκεῖ  
Sense: there, in or to that place.
κρατοῦντας  holding 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: κρατέω  
Sense: to have power, be powerful.
διδαχὴν  teaching 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: διδαχή  
Sense: teaching.
Βαλαάμ  of  Balaam 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: Βαλαάμ  
Sense: A native of Pethor a city in Mesopotamia, endued by Jehovah with prophetic power.
ἐδίδασκεν  would  teach 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: διδάσκω  
Sense: to teach.
τῷ  - 
Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Βαλὰκ  Balak 
Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular
Root: Βαλάκ  
Sense: a king of Moab.
βαλεῖν  to  cast 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: βάλλω 
Sense: to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls.
σκάνδαλον  a  snare 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: σκάνδαλον  
Sense: the movable stick or trigger of a trap, a trap stick.
ἐνώπιον  before 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐνώπιον  
Sense: in the presence of, before.
υἱῶν  sons 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: υἱός  
Sense: a son.
Ἰσραήλ  of  Israel 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: Ἰσραήλ  
Sense: the name given to the patriarch Jacob (and borne by him in addition to his former name).
φαγεῖν  to  eat 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: ἐσθίω  
Sense: to eat.
εἰδωλόθυτα  things  sacrificed  to  idols 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: εἰδωλόθυτος 
Sense: sacrificed to idols, the flesh left over from the heathen sacrifices.
πορνεῦσαι  to  commit  sexual  immorality 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: πορνεύω  
Sense: to prostitute one’s body to the lust of another.