The Vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and the sea was gone. ² I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

³ I heard a loud voice from the throne say,

⁵ The one sitting on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new!”

He said, “Write this: ‘These words are trustworthy and true.’”

⁶ Then he told me, “It has happened! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give a drink from the spring of the water of life to the one who is thirsty. ⁷ The person who overcomes^[b] will inherit these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. ⁸ But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves^[c] in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

The Vision of the New Jerusalem

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, “Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.” ¹⁰ He carried me away in the Spirit to a large, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. ¹¹ The glory of God was its radiance, and its light was like a valuable gem, like jasper, as clear as crystal. ¹² It had a large, high wall with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb were written on them.

¹⁵ The angel who^[d] was talking to me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was cubic in shape: its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with his rod, and it measured at 12,000 stadia:^[e]Its length, width, and height were the same. ¹⁷ He also measured its wall. According to the human measurement that the angel was using, it was 144 cubits.^{[f] 18} Its wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.

¹⁹ The foundations of the city wall were decorated with all kinds of gems: The first foundation^[g] was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian,^[h] the seventh chrysolite,^[i] the eighth beryl,^[j] the ninth topaz,^[k] the tenth chrysoprase,^[l] the eleventh jacinth^[m] and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.

²² I saw no temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. ²³ The city doesn’t need any sun or moon to give it light, because the glory of God gave it light, and the lamb was its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ Its gates will never be shut at the end of the^[n] day—because there will be no night there. ²⁶ People^[o] will bring the glory and wealth^[p] of the nations into it. ²⁷ Nothing unclean, or anyone who does anything detestable, and no one who tells lies will ever enter it. Only those whose names^[q] are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.^[r]