John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

¹⁹ Now this was John’s^(A) testimony when the Jewish leaders^[a](B) in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. ²⁰ He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”^(C)

²¹ They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”^(D)

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”^(E)

He answered, “No.”

²² Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,^(F) ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”^[b](G)

Joseph’s Dreams

37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,^(A) the land of Canaan.^(B)

² This is the account^(C) of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph,^(D) a young man of seventeen,^(E) was tending the flocks^(F) with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah^(G) and the sons of Zilpah,^(H) his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report^(I) about them.

³ Now Israel^(J) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,^(K) because he had been born to him in his old age;^(L) and he made an ornate^[a] robe^(M) for him.^{(N) 4} When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him^(O) and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁵ Joseph had a dream,^(P) and when he told it to his brothers,^(Q) they hated him all the more.^{(R) 6} He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves^(S) of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”^(T)

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?”^(U) And they hated him all the more^(V) because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹ Then he had another dream,^(W) and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars^(X) were bowing down to me.”^(Y)

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers,^(Z) his father rebuked^(AA) him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”^{(AB) 11} His brothers were jealous of him,^(AC) but his father kept the matter in mind.^(AD)

The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues^(A) came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride,^(B) the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away^(C) in the Spirit^(D) to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.^{(E) 11} It shone with the glory of God,^(F) and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper,^(G) clear as crystal.^{(H) 12} It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,^(I) and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.^{(J) 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,^(K) and on them were the names of the twelve apostles^(L) of the Lamb.

¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod^(M) of gold to measure the city, its gates^(N) 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^[a] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human^(O) measurement, and it was 144 cubits^[b] thick.^{[c] 18} The wall was made of jasper,^(P) and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.^{(Q) 19} The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.^(R) The first foundation was jasper,^(S) the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby,^(T) the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.^{[d] 21} The twelve gates^(U) were twelve pearls,^(V) each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.^(W)

²² I did not see a temple^(X) in the city, because the Lord God Almighty^(Y) and the Lamb^(Z) are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God^(AA) gives it light,^(AB) and the Lamb^(AC) is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.^{(AD) 25} On no day will its gates^(AE) ever be shut,^(AF) for there will be no night there.^{(AG) 26} The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.^{(AH) 27} Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,^(AI) but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.^(AJ)