Revelation 2:3

“And hast borne, etc.] Not evil men, nor false apostles, but “burdens”, as the Ethiopic version reads, and as the word signifies; meaning afflictions, reproaches, and persecutions, which pressed sore, and lay heavy on these ministers and churches; and yet they bore them with constancy and cheerfulness, and were not moved by them. The Arabic version reads, “and thou hast borne me”; my name and Gospel, among the Gentiles, and carried it from place to place; (see <440915>Acts 9:15); and hast patience; which they had from God, as his gift, and which they had in their hearts, and in exercise, and found it useful to them. It was in exercise in a suitable time, and it continued with them; it was not…”

“borne . . . patience--The oldest manuscripts transpose these words. Then translate as Greek, "persevering endurance . . . borne." "Thou hast borne" My reproach, but "thou canst not bear the evil" (Rev 2:2). A beautiful antithesis. and . . . hast laboured, and hast not fainted--The two oldest manuscripts and oldest versions read, "and . . . hast not labored," omitting "and hast fainted." The difficulty which transcribers by English Version reading tried to obviate, was the seeming contradiction, "I know thy labor . . . and thou hast not labored." But what is meant is, "Thou hast not been wearied out with labor."”

“And hast borne - Hast borne up under trials; or hast borne with the evils with which you have been assailed. That is, you have not given way to murmuring or complaints in trial, you have not abandoned the principles of truth and yielded to the prevalence of error. And hast patience - That is, in this connection, hast shown that thou canst bear up under these things with patience. This is a repetition of what is said in Revelation 2:2, but in a somewhat different connection. There it rather refers to the trouble which they had experienced on account of the pretensions of false apostles, and the patient, persevering, and enduring spirit which they had shown in that form of trial; here the…”

“hast borne: Psa 69:7; Mic 7:9; Mar 15:21; Luk 14:27; Co1 13:7; Gal 6:2; Heb 13:13 hast patience: Rev 1:9, Rev 3:10; Psa 37:7; Luk 8:15, Luk 21:19; Rom 2:7, Rom 5:3, Rom 5:4, Rom 8:25, Rom 12:12, Rom 15:4, Rom 15:5; Col 1:11; Th2 3:5; Heb 6:12, Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36, Heb 12:1; Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 5:7-11; Pe2 1:6 hast laboured: Rom 16:12; Co1 16:16; Co2 5:9, Co2 6:5, Co2 10:15, Co2 11:23; Phi 2:16, Phi 4:3; Th1 1:3, Th1 2:9, Th1 5:12; Th2 3:8; Ti1 4:10, Ti1 5:17; Heb 6:10 hast not: Luk 18:1; Co2 4:1, Co2 4:16; Gal 6:9; Th2 3:13; Heb 12:3-5 Revelation 2:4”