Jesus says some in Pergamum hold Balaam’s teaching, which put a stumbling block before Israel Revelation 2:14. The verse connects it to eating food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality Revelation 2:14.
In Revelation 2:14–17, Jesus confronts the Pergamum church for tolerating people who promote compromise. He compares their influence to Balaam’s strategy of luring Israel into idol-related meals and sexual immorality, and he links it to the Nicolaitans “in the same way.” The church is called to repent, with a warning of swift opposition from Jesus himself. This paragraph sits inside the second of Revelation’s major movements: messages to seven churches (Revelation 2–3). Each message follows a similar pattern—Jesus identifies a situation, praises what is faithful, confronts what is wrong, then issues a call and a promise.
Revelation 2:14–17 presents Jesus confronting a church for tolerating internal voices that promote compromise. The text’s explicit claims are that “some” in Pergamum “hold” a certain teaching linked to Balaam’s strategy: creating a “stumbling block” that leads to eating idol-connected food and to sexual immorality (verses 14–15).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Revelation 2:14, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
14But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.