Revelation 21
The full text of Revelation 21 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God."
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Translation notes (16)
- Revelation 21:1a Greek kainos (καινός), 'new', denotes newness in quality rather than mere recency, drawing on Isaiah 65:17, where God promises to create new heavens and a new earth. In biblical imagery the sea often represents chaos and the source of evil (Genesis 1:2; Daniel 7:3; Revelation 13:1), so its absence signals the final removal of disorder from the renewed creation.
- Revelation 21:3a Greek manuscripts divide between laoi, 'peoples', and the singular laos, 'people'; the plural, read by Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus, extends the covenant formula of Leviticus 26:12 to many nations, as anticipated in Zechariah 2:11. The noun skene, 'tent' or 'tabernacle', and its cognate verb recall God's dwelling with Israel in the wilderness.
- Revelation 21:4a The promise echoes Isaiah 25:8, where God swallows up death forever and wipes away tears from all faces; the same imagery appears in Revelation 7:17. The Greek exaleipsei pan dakryon, 'he will wipe away every tear', stresses completeness. The phrase ta prota, 'the former things', likewise recalls Isaiah 65:17, where the former things are not remembered because God creates new heavens and a new earth.
- Revelation 21:5a Idou kaina poio panta, 'behold, I make all things new,' echoes Isaiah 43:19 and 65:17 about the new creation. The narrative uses the historical present legei, 'he says,' and pistoi kai alethinoi, 'trustworthy and true,' underscores the reliability of the imperative Grapson, 'Write'.
- Revelation 21:6a Greek gegonan, 'they have come to pass', is plural, referring to the trustworthy words of the previous verse; the singular rendering 'It is done' follows English idiom. Alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, echo the divine self-declaration 'I am the first and I am the last' of Isaiah 44:6, here expanded by arche, 'beginning', and telos, 'end'.
- Revelation 21:7a Greek ho nikon, 'the one who conquers' (ὁ νικῶν), frames the promise in terms used throughout Revelation 2–3. The covenant formula echoes 2 Samuel 7:14 and Psalm 89:26–27. The noun huios, 'son' (υἱός), is rendered here as 'children' to reflect the corporate, gender-inclusive scope of the promise.
- Revelation 21:8a The Greek terms are deilois, 'cowardly'; apistois, 'unbelieving'; ebdelygmenois, 'vile' (from 'abominable'); phoneusin, 'murderers'; pornois, 'sexually immoral'; pharmakois, rendered here as 'those who practice magic arts' (originally 'users of potions'); eidololatrais, 'idolaters'; pseudesin, 'liars'. 'The second death' (ho thanatos ho deuteros) denotes final judgment in Revelation.
- Revelation 21:11a Phōstēr, 'light-bearer' (φωστήρ), denotes a luminary and is rendered here as 'brilliance'. Iaspis, 'jasper' (ἴασπις), in ancient usage could refer to various translucent stones; paired with krystallizōn, 'crystal-like' (κρυσταλλίζων), it emphasizes clarity rather than the opaque sense of modern jasper.
- Revelation 21:12a The twelve gates inscribed with the tribes' names echo Ezekiel 48:30-35, where the gates of the restored city each bear the name of a tribe of Israel. Greek pylōn (πυλών), 'gate', denotes a monumental gateway or gate tower rather than a simple door, fitting the grandeur of the vision.
- Revelation 21:14a Greek themelios, 'foundation', can denote foundation stones suited to inscriptions. With the gates (v. 12) bearing the tribes' names and the foundations the apostles' names, the vision juxtaposes Israel and apostolic witness. Revelation does not specify which twelve apostles are meant (e.g., whether Matthias or Paul).
- Revelation 21:16a This refers to a distance of about 1,400 miles or 2,200 kilometers.
- Revelation 21:17a This refers to a measurement of about 200 feet or 65 meters. The text adds that this human measure is also the angel's.
- Revelation 21:19a The twelve foundation stones recall the twelve gems of the high priest's breastplate (Exodus 28:17-20), each engraved with a tribal name; the whole city now bears priestly adornment. The identification of several stones is uncertain: chalkedon, 'agate' or 'chalcedony' (χαλκηδών), appears nowhere else in ancient Greek literature as the name of a gem.
- Revelation 21:22a The Greek literally reads, "a temple I saw not" (naon ouk eidon), emphasizing the absence of a distinct temple structure. In the New Jerusalem, the divine presence of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb directly fulfills the function of a temple.
- Revelation 21:24a The verse echoes Isaiah 60:3-11, where nations walk by Zion's light and kings bring their wealth through gates that never close. Greek doxa, rendered here as 'splendor', elsewhere denotes divine glory; the earthly kings' doxa is thus drawn into the city lit by God's own. Later manuscripts behind the King James tradition add 'of them which are saved' after 'nations'; the earliest witnesses lack the phrase.
- Revelation 21:27a Greek koinon, 'common/unclean', rendered here as 'impure'; bdelygma, 'detestable thing'; and pseudos, 'falsehood'. The imagery echoes Isaiah 52:1 in the Septuagint ('no unclean shall enter') and the 'book of life' motif from Daniel 12:1 (cf. Exodus 32:32; Psalm 69:28).
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