The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw ^(A)a new heaven and a new earth, for ^(B)the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw ^(C)the holy city, ^(D)new Jerusalem, ^(E)coming down out of heaven from God, ^(F)prepared ^(G)as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, ^(H)the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will ^(I)dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.^{[c] 4 (J)}He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and ^(K)death shall be no more, ^(L)neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And ^(M)he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I ^(N)am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for ^(O)these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, ^(P)“It is done! ^(Q)I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. ^(R)To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ^7 (S)The one who conquers will have this heritage, and ^(T)I will be his God and ^(U)he will be my son. ^8 (V)But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, ^(W)their portion will be in ^(X)the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is ^(Y)the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

⁹ Then came ^(Z)one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of ^(AA)the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(AB)the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And ^(AC)he carried me away in the Spirit to ^(AD)a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, ^11 (AE)having the glory of God, ^(AF)its radiance ^(AG)like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall, ^(AH)with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 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 had twelve ^(AI)foundations, and ^(AJ)on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ And the one who spoke with me ^(AK)had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.^[d] Its length and width and height are equal. ¹⁷ He also measured its wall, 144 cubits^[e] by ^(AL)human measurement, which is also ^(AM)an angel's measurement. ¹⁸ The wall was built of ^(AN)jasper, while the city was pure gold, like ^(AO)clear glass. ^19 (AP)The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of 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 were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and ^(AQ)the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

²² And ^(AR)I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city ^(AS)has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for ^(AT)the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ By its light ^(AU)will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth ^(AV)will bring their glory into it, ²⁵ and ^(AW)its gates will never be shut by day—and ^(AX)there will be no night there. ²⁶ They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁷ But ^(AY)nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's ^(AZ)book of life.

New Heavens and a New Earth

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

22 And again Jesus ^(A)spoke to them in parables, saying, ^2 (B)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave ^(C)a wedding feast for his son, ³ and ^(D)sent his servants^[a] to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ^4 (E)Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my ^(F)dinner, ^(G)my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But ^(H)they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, ^(I)treated them shamefully, and ^(J)killed them. ⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and ^(K)destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not ^(L)worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and ^(M)gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ^(N)a man who had no wedding garment. ¹² And he said to him, ^(O)‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ^(P)cast him into the outer darkness. In that place ^(Q)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^(R)called, but few are ^(S)chosen.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

^15 (T)Then the Pharisees went and plotted how ^(U)to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶ And they sent ^(V)their disciples to him, along with ^(W)the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, ^(X)we know that you are true and teach ^(Y)the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for ^(Z)you are not swayed by appearances.^{[b] 17} Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay ^(AA)taxes to ^(AB)Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why ^(AC)put me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.^{[c] 20} And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, ^(AD)“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²² When they heard it, they marveled. And they ^(AE)left him and went away.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²³ The same day ^(AF)Sadducees came to him, ^(AG)who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, ²⁴ saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ^(AH)‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ So too the second and third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ After them all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

²⁹ But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, ^(AI)because you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(AJ)the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither ^(AK)marry nor ^(AL)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ And as for the resurrection of the dead, ^(AM)have you not read what was said to you by God: ^32 (AN)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³ And when the crowd heard it, ^(AO)they were astonished at his teaching.

The Great Commandment

^34 (AP)But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced ^(AQ)the Sadducees, they gathered together. ^35 (AR)And one of them, ^(AS)a lawyer, asked him a question ^(AT)to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, ^(AU)“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And ^(AV)a second is like it: ^(AW)You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ^40 (AX)On these two commandments depend ^(AY)all the Law and the Prophets.”

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^41 (AZ)Now while the Pharisees ^(BA)were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about ^(BB)the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, ^(BC)“The son of David.” ⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, ^(BD)in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁵ If then David calls him Lord, ^(BF)how is he his son?” ^46 (BG)And no one was able to answer him a word, ^(BH)nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

14 ^(A)“Let not your hearts be troubled. ^(B)Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. ² In ^(C)my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that ^(D)I go to prepare a place for you?^{[b] 3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you ^(E)to myself, that ^(F)where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”^[c]

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am ^(A)the way, and ^(B)the truth, and ^(C)the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

^12 (A)waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^(B)the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for ^(C)new heavens and a new earth ^(D)in which righteousness dwells.

⁹ But, as it is written,

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. ^(A)Though our outer self^[a] is wasting away, ^(B)our inner self ^(C)is being renewed day by day.