A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”^[a](A) for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,^(B) and there was no longer any sea.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.^(A) The heavens will disappear with a roar;^(B) the elements will be destroyed by fire,^(C) and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.^[a](D)

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward^(E) to the day of God and speed its coming.^[b](F) That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.^{(G) 13} But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth,^(H) where righteousness dwells.

¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings^(A) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[a]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.^{(B) 21} Who knows if the human spirit rises upward^(C) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”