< Revelation 21 >
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; also, the ocean was no more.
2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying: “Take note, the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people. Yes, God Himself will be with them.
4 And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain—they will exist no more because the first things have gone.”
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Take note, I make everything new!” And He says to me, “Write, because these words are true and faithful!”
6 Then He said to me: “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I will give of the spring of the water of Life freely.
7 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be God to him and he will be a son to me.
8 But as for the cowardly and unbelieving and sinners and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters, and all who are false, their portion is in the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Limnē Pyr )
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, “Come, I will show you the woman, the Lamb's bride.”
10 So he transported me in spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
11 having the splendor of God. Her radiance was similar to a most precious stone, like a crystalline jasper stone;
12 she had a tremendous, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, namely the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel;
13 looking from the east, three gates, and from the north, three gates, and from the south, three gates, and from the west, three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names, of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 Now he who spoke with me had a measure, a golden reed, so that he might measure the city and her gates.
16 The city is laid out as a square; that is, her length is equal to her width. So he measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand and twelve stadia. Her length and width and height are equal.
17 And he measured her wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man (which is of an angel).
18 The material of her wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation had jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was composed of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I saw no sanctuary in her, because the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are her sanctuary.
23 And the city has no need of the sun or the moon, that they should shine on her, because the very glory of God illumines her, and the Lamb is her light.
24 And the nations will walk in her light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into her.
25 Her gates will absolutely not be closed by day (and no night will exist there).
26 And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into her.
27 But anything ‘common’ or anyone perpetrating an abomination or a lie will absolutely not enter her; only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
