“But y’all must be on guard. For they will deliver y’all up to councils, and y’all will be beaten in synagogues. Y’all will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, as a witness to them.
“I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold firmly to my name and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among y’all, where Satan dwells.
Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look! The devil is about to throw some of y’all into prison to test y’all, and y’all will have tribulation for ten days. You are to be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
I John, y’all’s sibling and partner in the tribulation, the empire, and the perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘The Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the ethnic groups.’”
Remember what I told y’all: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute y’all. If they obey my word, they will obey y’all’s too.
But I tell y’all that everyone who is enraged with their sibling will be subject to judgment. Whoever calls their sibling, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be in danger of the council. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
For one ethnic group will rise up against another ethnic group, and empire against empire. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. These things are the beginning of birth pains.