The Fall of Babylon

18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined by his splendor.^{(A) 2} He called out with a mighty voice,

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.^{(A) 2} And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.^{(B) 3} And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

⁵ And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”^{(E) 6} Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.^{(F) 7} Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. ⁸ But as for the cowardly, the faithless,^[f] the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral,^[g] the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”^(G)

Vision of the New Jerusalem

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”^{(H) 10} And in the spirit^[h] he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.^{(I) 11} It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.^{(J) 12} It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names that are the names^[i] of the twelve tribes of the Israelites:^{(K) 13} on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.^(L)

¹⁵ The angel^[j] who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.^{(M) 16} The city has four equal sides, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and width and height are equal. ¹⁷ He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. ¹⁸ The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was 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 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.

²² I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.^{(N) 24} The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.^{(O) 25} Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.^{(P) 26} People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁷ But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.^(Q)

⁹ And the angel said^[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”^(A)

Psalm 100

All Lands Summoned to Praise God

A Psalm of thanksgiving.

The Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold

²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.^{[a](A) 21} Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it,^{(B) 22} for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written.^{(C) 23} Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; ²⁴ they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the times of the nations are fulfilled.^(D)

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁵ “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.^{(E) 26} People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.^{(F) 28} Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”^[b](G)