1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more; 2 and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband; 3 and I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God [is] with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them [as] their God, 4 and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor will there be anymore pain, because the first things passed away.” 5 And He who is sitting on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new”; and He says to me, “Write, because these words are true and steadfast”; 6 and He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsting, I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 The [one] who is overcoming will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8 But to fearful, and unsteadfast, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the liars, their part [is] in the lake that is burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” 9 And one of the seven messengers, having the seven bowls that are full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” 10 and he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, and her light—like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone clear as crystal, 12 also having a great and high wall, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve messengers, and names written thereon, which are [those] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel— 13 at the east three gates, at the north three gates, at the south three gates, at the west three gates; 14 and the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who is speaking with me had a golden reed, that he may measure the city, and its gates, and its wall; 16 and the city lies square, and the length of it is as great as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed—twelve thousand stadia; the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured its wall—one hundred forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of the messenger; 18 and the building of its wall was jasper, and the city [is] pure gold—like to pure glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city have been adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, 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 one of the gates respectively was of one pearl; and the street of the city [is] pure gold—as transparent glass. 22 And I did not see a temple in it, for the LORD God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they may shine in it; for the glory of God lightens it, and the lamp of it—the Lamb; 24 and the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day, for night will not be there; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and there may never enter into it anything defiling and doing abomination, and a lie, if not those written in the Lamb’s Scroll of Life.
Revelation · Literal Standard Version
Revelation 21 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (27)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 65:17–19; 2 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 66:22; Revelation 21:5; 2 Peter 3:10
- 2 Hebrews 11:10; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:10; Isaiah 61:10; Hebrews 13:14
- 3 Ezekiel 37:27; 2 Corinthians 6:16; John 14:23; Leviticus 26:11–12; Zechariah 8:8
- 4 Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17; 1 Corinthians 15:26; Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 60:20
- 5 2 Corinthians 5:17; Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19; Revelation 19:9; Revelation 4:2
- 6 John 7:37–38; John 4:10; Revelation 7:17; John 4:14; Psalm 36:9
- 7 2 Corinthians 6:18; Hebrews 8:10; Revelation 21:3; Revelation 2:11; Matthew 25:34
- 8 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Revelation 2:11; Ephesians 5:5–6; Revelation 22:15; Revelation 20:14–15
- 9 Revelation 19:7; Revelation 21:2; Revelation 17:1; Revelation 16:1–17; Revelation 15:1–7
- 10 Revelation 21:2; Ezekiel 11:24; 2 Corinthians 12:2–4; Ezekiel 40:1–49; Acts 8:39
- 11 Revelation 4:6; Revelation 22:5; Revelation 22:1; Revelation 21:18–19; Isaiah 60:19–20
- 12 Ezekiel 48:31–34; Revelation 21:17–21; Revelation 7:4–8; Isaiah 54:12; Revelation 21:25
- 13 Ezekiel 48:31–34
- 14 Hebrews 11:10; Ephesians 2:20; Isaiah 54:11; Revelation 21:19–21; Matthew 16:18
- 15 Zechariah 2:1; Revelation 11:1–2; Ezekiel 41:1–5; Exodus 40:3–5
- 16 Ezekiel 48:8–20; Ezekiel 48:35
- 17 Deuteronomy 3:11; Revelation 21:9; Revelation 13:18; Revelation 7:4; Revelation 14:3
- 18 Revelation 21:11; Revelation 21:21; Revelation 21:19
- 19 Isaiah 54:11–12; Exodus 28:17–21; Job 28:16–19; Proverbs 3:15
- 20 Revelation 4:3
- 21 Revelation 21:18; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 22:2; Revelation 21:11–12; Revelation 18:16
- 22 John 4:23; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 2:6; Isaiah 66:1; John 4:21
- 23 Isaiah 60:19–20; Revelation 22:5; John 1:9; Revelation 21:11; Isaiah 24:23
- 24 Revelation 22:2; Revelation 21:26; Zechariah 8:22–23; Zechariah 2:11; Romans 15:10–12
- 25 Isaiah 60:11; Revelation 22:5; Zechariah 14:7; Isaiah 60:20; Revelation 21:23
- 26 Revelation 21:24
- 27 Isaiah 52:1; Revelation 22:14–15; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 20:15; Isaiah 35:8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And in the Apocalypse John saw this new [Jerusalem] descending upon the new earth. For after the times of the kingdom, he says, "I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens; and there was no more place for them." And he sets forth, too, the things …
… everlasting punishment," it remains that he explain the connected words, "but the righteous into life eternal." "And I saw," he says, "a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away; and there is no more sea." This will take place in the order which he has by anticipation declared in the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For they will wax old and be wound round as a covering, and will be changed, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)
And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away." Isaiah also declares the very same: "For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and there shall be no remembrance of the former, …
And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." This city is said to come down out of heaven, because the grace with which God formed it is of heaven.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)