Revelation 21

New Testament for Everyone

New heaven, new earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God, prepared like a bride dressed up for her husband. ³ I heard a loud voice from the throne, and this is what it said: “Look! God has come to dwell with humans! He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or weeping or pain anymore, since the first things have passed away.”

⁵ The one who sat on the throne said, “Look, I am making all things new.” And he said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

New Jerusalem

⁶ Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give water to the thirsty, water from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ The one who conquers will inherit these things. I will be his God and he shall be my son. ⁸ But as for cowards, faithless people, the unclean, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—their destiny will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.” ¹⁰ Then he took me in the spirit up a great high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It has the glory of God; it is radiant, like the radiance of a rare and precious jewel, like a jasper stone, crystal-clear. ¹² It has a great high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names inscribed on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. ¹³ There are three gates coming in from the east, three gates from the north, three gates from the south and three gates from the west. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city has twelve foundation-stones, and on them are written the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb.

¹⁵ The one who was talking with me had a golden measuring-rod, so that he could measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶ The city stands foursquare, with the same length and breadth. He measured the city with his rod: it was twelve thousand stadia (that is, fifteen hundred miles), with the length, the breadth and the height being equal. ¹⁷ Then he measured its wall, and it was one hundred and forty-four cubits in terms of human measurement (which was what the angel was using). ¹⁸ The material of which the wall is built is jasper, and the city itself is pure gold, like pure glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates are twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The street of the city is pure gold, clear as glass.

God and the lamb are there

²² I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God the Almighty is its temple, together with the lamb. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb. 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 by day, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. ²⁷ Nothing that has not been made holy will ever come into it, nor will anyone who practices abomination or who tells lies, but only those who are written in the lamb’s book of life.