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 annunciation of the birth of Jesus

²⁶ In the sixth month, Gabriel (the angel) was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man called Joseph, from the family of David. The virgin was called Mary.

²⁸ “Greetings, favored one!” said the angel when he arrived. “May the Lord be with you!”

²⁹ She was disturbed at this, and wondered what such a greeting might mean.

³⁰ “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” said the angel to her. “You’re in favor with God. ³¹ Listen: you will conceive in your womb and will have a son; and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be a great man, and he’ll be called the son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, ³³ and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never come to an end.”

³⁴ “How will this happen?” said Mary to the angel. “I’m still a virgin!”

³⁵ “The holy spirit will come upon you,” replied the angel, “and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason the holy one who is born from you will be called God’s Son.

³⁶ “Let me tell you this, too: your cousin Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son. This is the sixth month for her, a woman who people used to say was barren. ³⁷ With God, you see, nothing is impossible.”

³⁸ “Here I am,” said Mary; “I’m the Lord’s servant-girl. Let it happen to me as you’ve said.”

Then the angel left her.