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.”

¹⁹ When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother,^(A) and she sat down at his right hand.^(B)

² I saw the Holy City,^(A) the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,^(B) prepared as a bride^(C) beautifully dressed for her husband.

²⁶ to make her holy,^(A) cleansing^[a] her by the washing^(B) with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself^(C) as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.^(D)

²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.^(A)

²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom.^(A) The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.^(B)