Revelation 21: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

John sees a new heaven and a new earth, and the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God. A voice announces that God will live with his people, and the one on the throne says he is making all things new, promising water of life to the thirsty and naming those whose place is the lake of fire. An angel then carries John to a high mountain and shows him the city in detail: its wall, twelve gates, twelve foundations, its measurements, and its jewels and gold. The city has no temple and no need of sun or moon, its gates are never shut, and nothing unclean enters it.

Claim by Claim

1. 21:1
   • John saw a new heaven and a new earth.
   • The first heaven had passed away.
   • The first earth had passed away.
   • The sea no longer existed.
2. 21:2
   • John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem.
   • The holy city was coming down out of heaven from God.
   • The city was prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
   • The one who saw this identifies himself as John.
3. 21:3
   • John heard a loud voice out of heaven.
   • The voice said that the dwelling place of God is with men.
   • The voice said God will dwell with them.
   • The voice said they shall be his people.
   • The voice said God himself shall be with them.
   • The voice said God himself shall be their God.
4. 21:4
   • God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
   • There will be no more death.
   • There will be no more sorrow.
   • There will be no more crying.
   • There will be no more pain.
   • The former things have passed away.
5. 21:5
   • The one seated on the throne spoke.
   • He said he is making all things new.
   • He told John to write.
   • He said these words are true and faithful.
6. 21:6
   • He said to John that it is done.
   • He said he is the Alpha and the Omega.
   • He said he is the beginning and the end.
   • He said he will give to the one who is thirsty from the fountain of the water of life.
   • He said this gift is given freely, without price.
7. 21:7
   • The one who overcomes will inherit all things.
   • He said he will be that one's God.
   • He said that one will be his son.
8. 21:8
   • The fearful will have their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone.
   • The unbelieving will have their portion there.
   • The abominable will have their portion there.
   • Murderers will have their portion there.
   • The sexually immoral will have their portion there.
   • Sorcerers will have their portion there.
   • Idolaters will have their portion there.
   • All liars will have their portion there.
   • That lake is the second death.
9. 21:9
   • One of the seven angels came to John.
   • Those seven angels had the seven vials.
   • The seven vials were full of the seven last plagues.
   • The angel talked with John.
   • The angel told John to come.
   • The angel said he would show John the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
10. 21:10
    • The angel carried John away in the spirit.
    • The angel carried him to a great and high mountain.
    • The angel showed John the holy city Jerusalem.
    • The city was descending out of heaven from God.
11. 21:11
    • The city had the glory of God.
    • The city's light was like a most precious stone.
    • The city's light was like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
12. 21:12
    • The city had a great and high wall.
    • The city had twelve gates.
    • There were twelve angels at the gates.
    • Names were written on the gates.
    • The names were the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
13. 21:13
    • Three gates were on the east.
    • Three gates were on the north.
    • Three gates were on the south.
    • Three gates were on the west.
14. 21:14
    • The wall of the city had twelve foundations.
    • On the foundations were twelve names.
    • The names were those of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15. 21:15
    • The one who talked with John had a measuring reed of gold.
    • The reed was for measuring the city.
    • The reed was for measuring the city's gates.
    • The reed was for measuring the city's wall.
16. 21:16
    • The city lies foursquare.
    • The city's length equals its breadth.
    • He measured the city with the reed.
    • The measurement was twelve thousand furlongs.
    • The length, breadth, and height of the city are equal.
17. 21:17
    • He measured the city's wall.
    • The wall measured one hundred forty-four cubits.
    • The measure used was a man's measure.
    • That man's measure is the angel's measure.
18. 21:18
    • The structure of the city's wall was jasper.
    • The city was pure gold.
    • The city's gold was like clear glass.
19. 21:19
    • The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone.
    • The first foundation was jasper.
    • The second foundation was sapphire.
    • The third foundation was chalcedony.
    • The fourth foundation was emerald.
20. 21:20
    • The fifth foundation was sardonyx.
    • The sixth foundation was sardius.
    • The seventh foundation was chrysolite.
    • The eighth foundation was beryl.
    • The ninth foundation was topaz.
    • The tenth foundation was chrysoprase.
    • The eleventh foundation was jacinth.
    • The twelfth foundation was amethyst.
21. 21:21
    • The twelve gates were twelve pearls.
    • Each single gate was made of one pearl.
    • The street of the city was pure gold.
    • The street's gold was like transparent glass.
22. 21:22
    • John saw no temple in the city.
    • The Lord God Almighty is the city's temple.
    • The Lamb is the city's temple.
23. 21:23
    • The city has no need of the sun to shine in it.
    • The city has no need of the moon to shine in it.
    • The glory of God gives the city light.
    • The Lamb is the city's lamp.
24. 21:24
    • The nations of those who are saved will walk in the city's light.
    • The kings of the earth bring their glory into the city.
    • The kings of the earth bring their honour into the city.
25. 21:25
    • The city's gates will not be shut at all by day.
    • There will be no night there.
26. 21:26
    • They will bring the glory of the nations into the city.
    • They will bring the honour of the nations into the city.
27. 21:27
    • Nothing that defiles will ever enter the city.
    • No one who works abomination will enter it.
    • No one who makes a lie will enter it.
    • Those written in the Lamb's book of life will enter it.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

21:1

In the imagery of this book, and of the Hebrew scriptures behind it, the sea is not scenery but a standing image of chaos and danger: it is where the beast comes up from in chapter 13, and it is what separates John on Patmos from the churches he writes to. An ancient reader would hear "no more sea" as the removal of that threat.

21:2

Hebrew prophets routinely spoke of a city as a woman: Jerusalem as widow, wife, or bride (Isaiah 54, Isaiah 62:5). The picture of a city dressed as a bride was a familiar figure of speech, not an odd one.

21:3

"Tabernacle" translates a Greek word that simply means a tent. It was the standard term for the portable tent shrine Israel carried through the desert before the temple was built. The verb translated "dwell" is built on the same root, so the line reads roughly: God's tent is with people, and he will pitch it among them.

21:4

The word the King James renders "sorrow" is narrower than modern sadness; it means mourning, the public grief that follows a death.

21:5

"Faithful" here does not mean believing. It means these words can be trusted to come true.

21:6

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, so the phrase works like saying "A to Z." The next clause spells it out: the beginning and the end. "Freely" in 1611 English means without payment, at no price, echoing the offer in Isaiah 55:1 to come and buy without money.

21:7

"Overcometh" translates a Greek verb meaning to win a victory, used of winning a battle or a contest. It is the same word that closes each of the seven letters to the churches in chapters 2 and 3.

21:8

"The fearful" does not mean people who feel afraid; in 1611 it meant the cowardly, those who desert under pressure. "Abominable" carries the sense of polluted or defiled, originally a word from the world of ritual purity. "Whoremongers" covers sexual immorality generally. "Brimstone" is the old English word for sulfur, which burns with a choking smell and was the standard image for destructive fire. "The second death" was defined in the previous chapter (20:14) as the lake of fire itself, as distinct from ordinary bodily death.

21:9

"Vials" is misleading to a modern ear. The Greek word means a broad, shallow bowl, the kind used in temple ritual to pour a liquid out all at once, not a narrow bottle.

21:10

"In the spirit" is a fixed phrase in this book (also at 1:10, 4:2 and 17:3) marking the visionary state in which John is carried somewhere else to see something. A high mountain is the standard vantage point for seeing a city in such visions, as in Ezekiel 40:2.

21:11

Ancient stone names did not match modern mineral categories. Stones were classified by color and hardness, so one ancient name could cover several minerals. "Jasper" here is described as clear as crystal, which does not fit the opaque stone now called jasper; the word seems to point to some translucent, highly valued stone.

21:12

The twelve tribes were the traditional divisions of Israel, each tracing descent from one of the twelve sons of Jacob. Naming gates after them follows the plan of the restored city in Ezekiel 48:30 to 34.

21:14

The foundations of an ancient city wall were the large squared blocks laid at its base, visible above ground. In the Greek and Roman world such blocks sometimes carried inscriptions naming the city's founders.

21:15

The measuring rod is a reed, a cane stalk cut to a standard length. It was an ordinary surveyor's tool; the guide in Ezekiel's temple vision carries the same thing (Ezekiel 40:3).

21:16

"Foursquare" means square in plan, and since the height matches, the city is a cube. The inner sanctuary of Solomon's temple was also a cube (1 Kings 6:20). "Furlong" is the King James translators' English equivalent for the Greek stadion, about 607 feet or 185 meters. Twelve thousand of them is roughly 1,380 miles, about 2,200 kilometers. The figure is twelve times a thousand.

21:17

A cubit was about eighteen inches, roughly the length of a forearm, so 144 cubits is about 216 feet or 66 meters. The text does not say whether this is the wall's height or its thickness. The closing phrase, "according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel," means the units are ordinary human ones even though an angel is doing the measuring; the Greek is compressed and has been read in more than one way. The number itself is twelve times twelve.

21:19

The list that follows is one of gemstones, and ancient names do not line up with modern mineralogy. Twelve precious stones also studded the breastplate of Israel's high priest (Exodus 28:17 to 20), though the two lists do not match item for item.

21:20

Several of these names are descriptive in Greek. Sardius, or carnelian, is a red stone named for the city of Sardis. Chrysolite means "gold stone" and chrysoprase means "gold leek-green," both named for their color. Jacinth was a blue or violet stone. As with jasper, the ancient names identify color and quality more than a specific mineral.

21:21

"Several" in 1611 English meant separate or individual, so the verse says each gate was made from a single pearl. These are the gates of a city wall, so the pearls are being imagined at a scale no real pearl could reach.

21:22

The temple in Jerusalem was the one place where sacrifice could be offered and where God was understood to be present in a particular way. A city with no temple in it would have struck a first-century reader as a city with its center missing, which is why the verse immediately explains what has replaced it.

21:23

The King James says the glory of God "did lighten it." That means gave it light. It has nothing to do with weight.

21:24

"Of them which are saved" comes from the late Greek manuscripts the King James translators worked from; the earliest surviving copies read simply "the nations shall walk by its light." "Glory and honour" here is the language of tribute, the goods and treasure that subject peoples carried to a capital city, as in Isaiah 60.

21:25

Ancient cities shut their gates at nightfall against raiders and opened them at dawn. Gates that are never shut is the picture of a city under no threat at all.

21:27

"In no wise" simply means in no way, by no means. "Defileth" belongs to the vocabulary of ritual purity: what is unclean cannot enter a holy place. A "book of life" was pictured on the model of a civic register, the list of a city's enrolled citizens by name.