Translation
Because you have kept my command to patiently endure, I will keep you from the hour of trial
Go to footnote numberthat is sure
Go to footnote numberto come upon the entire inhabited world,
Go to footnote numberto test
Go to footnote numberthose dwelling upon the earth.
Paraphrase
Because you have kept my command to patiently endure, I
will keep you from the hour of
trial that is sure to come
upon the entire world,
to test everyone
on the earth.
Footnotes
1: Why are some spared and some not?
Sometimes God chooses to protect His faithful ones from trials, and sometimes He allows His faithful ones to undergo trials. Notice that the other churches that received this letter were not spared from their hour of trial. If everyone were going to be spared from trials this vision and the letter to the churches would not have been necessary. Notice that Jesus tells them in verse 11 to hold fast to what they have, meaning that there are pressures against them. Why they will be spared in that way while others are not we cannot say. To do so would be to play God. This fits with one of the themes of Revelation, namely that God will limit suffering; He will not allow it to become so intense that the believer cannot handle it even with His help.
2: “is sure”
When used with a present infinitive this word carried a general sense of “sure,” rather than “about to.” Here it is indeed followed by a present infinitive.
3: “the entire inhabited world.”
In that day this phrase actually meant the Roman empire for they considered those outside the empire of no account, being only barbarians. To say “the whole world” but only mean the Roman Empire was simply a reality of that day. So it appears that Jesus uses their phrase for “the whole world,” but followed it immediately with an explanatory phrase, “those dwelling upon the earth.” Since He uses two ways to say “everyone,” we can be confident He did not mean just the Roman Empire.
The bigger question is, did He mean everyone on the earth at a specific time in history, or everyone on the earth throughout history? We could ask it this way: Is the hour of trial spoken of referring to a single unit of time in which everyone will suffer simultaneously, or is it a reference to the personal suffering of every believer down through history? This verse does not give us enough information to say conclusively, so we must look outside this verse. I believe the context of the book of Revelation points to the individual suffering of believers throughout history. I am convinced that the original audience would have understood the words “hour of trial” as a reference to what they were each going through. This interpretation is supported by many, many things in the vision of Revelation, while the one-time, global tribulation interpretation is not well supported in Revelation (see the study topic called THERE IS NO 7 YEAR TRIBULATION IN REVELATION.
4: What is the “test” being referred to?
I believe it is a reference to hard choices everyone will need to make. Everyone must choose to give up earthly desires and pay the price for following Jesus, or chase earthly desires and pay the price for not following Jesus. Both choices have consequences. The emphasis on persecution reminds us how difficult following Jesus can be. But the vision we call Revelation also shows us that it is unwise to choose the other option; to oppose Jesus sets in motion the most unpleasant set of consequences imaginable.