Book of Common Prayer

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.” ¹⁰ Then he took me in the spirit up a great high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It has the glory of God; it is radiant, like the radiance of a rare and precious jewel, like a jasper stone, crystal-clear. ¹² It has a great high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names inscribed on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. ¹³ There are three gates coming in from the east, three gates from the north, three gates from the south and three gates from the west. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city has twelve foundation-stones, and on them are written the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb.

¹⁵ The one who was talking with me had a golden measuring-rod, so that he could measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶ The city stands foursquare, with the same length and breadth. He measured the city with his rod: it was twelve thousand stadia (that is, fifteen hundred miles), with the length, the breadth and the height being equal. ¹⁷ Then he measured its wall, and it was one hundred and forty-four cubits in terms of human measurement (which was what the angel was using). ¹⁸ The material of which the wall is built is jasper, and the city itself is pure gold, like pure glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation is 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 The twelve gates are twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The street of the city is pure gold, clear as glass.

The Temple tax

²² As they regathered in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The son of man is going to be given over into human hands. ²³ They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were very sad.

²⁴ They came to Capernaum, where the officials who collected the Temple tax approached Peter.

“Your teacher pays the Temple tax, doesn’t he?” they asked.

²⁵ “Yes,” he replied.

When he came into the house, Jesus spoke first, “What d’you think, Simon? When the kings of the world collect taxes or duties, who do they collect them from? From their own families, or from outsiders?”

²⁶ “From outsiders,” he replied.

“Well then,” said Jesus, “that means the families are free. ²⁷ But we don’t want to give them offense, do we? So why don’t you go down to the sea and cast out a hook? The first fish you catch, open its mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take that and give it to them for the two of us.”