Revelation 21 is the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter contains the accounts of "the new heaven and the new earth", followed by the appearance of the New Jerusalem, "prepared as a bride".[1]

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 27 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others:[2][a]

Old Testament references

New Testament references

A new heaven and a new earth (21:1–8)

Verse 1

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

The Nonconformist minister Alexander Maclaren interprets "a new heaven and a new earth" as meaning "a renovated condition of humanity" and suggests that "and the sea is no more" is "probably ... to be taken in a symbolic sense, as shadowing forth the absence of unruly power, of mysterious and hostile forces, of estranging gulfs of separation". Referring to the island of Patmos where the writer experienced his vision, Maclaren continues, "The sad and solitary and estranging ocean that raged around his little rock sanctuary has passed away for ever".[4]

Verse 2

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The name John appears in the King James Version and New King James Version but is generally omitted in other English translations.[5]

Verse 6

And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment."[6]
  • "It is done": from Greek Γέγοναν, ',[7] alluding that "the things promised (plural) have come to pass".[8] Whereas in Revelation 16:17 the statement "it is done" (Greek: Γέγονεν, ') signifies 'the completion of the wrath of God', here it is 'at the making of all things new'.[8]
  • "Without payment" (KJV: "freely"): from Greek δωρεάν, ',[7] "a free, unmerited gift".[9]

Verse 7

The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.[10]

Verse 8

”But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”[11]

The new Jerusalem (21:9–27)

Verses 9–11

9Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

The beginning part of this section (verses 9–10) forms a parallel with , which is similar to the parallel between and , indicating a distinct marking of a pair of passages about Babylon and the New Jerusalem with as a transition from the destruction of Babylon to the arrival of the New Jerusalem.[12]

Verse 14

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

W H Simcox, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, observes that St John the Apostle (if he was the author) "does not notice his own name being written there".[13]

Verses 15–21

The ground plan of the New Jerusalem is shown to be a square (cf. ), '12000 stadia in each direction' (verse 16), but the general form is actually a 'perfect cube', unlike any 'city ever imagined', but 'like the holy of holies' in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem (). The New Jerusalem has no temple (verse 22), because 'the whole city is the holiest place of God's presence'.[14]

Verses 22–27

But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

The description of the New Jerusalem in many ways is in agreement with the models in the Old Testament and apocryphal literature (Isaiah 52:1; ; 60; ; ; ; ; Tobit 13:16–17), except for the absence of a temple in the new city.[14] The New Jerusalem is called in the Book of Ezekiel as 'The Lord is There' (Ezekiel 48:35) and in the Book of Zechariah the whole city is declared as holy as the temple (; cf. Isaiah 52:1).[14]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus.[15] and this chapter is missing from Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus.

References

  1. ^ Bauckham 2007, p. 1289.
  2. ^ Elliott, J. K. "Revelations from the apparatus criticus of the Book of Revelation: How Textual Criticism Can Help Historians." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no. 3-4 (2012): 1–23.
  3. ^ "Biblical concordances of Revelation 21 in the 1611 King James Bible"
  4. ^ Maclaren, A., MacLaren: Expositions of Holy Scripture on Revelation 21, accessed 16 December 2018
  5. ^ BibleGateway.com, Revelation 21:2 in various translations
  6. ^ ESV
  7. ^ Revelation 21:6 Greek text analysis. Biblehub
  8. ^ Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905). Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers. Revelation 21. London : Cassell and Company, Limited, [1905–1906] Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.
  9. ^ Benson, Joseph. Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Revelation 21, accessed 9 July 2019.
  10. ^ LEB
  11. ^ NLT
  12. ^ Bauckham 2007, pp. 1303–4.
  13. ^ Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Revelation 21, accessed 17 December 2018
  14. ^ Bauckham 2007, p. 1304.
  15. ^ Claremont Coptic Encyclopaedia, Codex Vaticanus, accessed 29 September 2018

Bibliography

  • Bauckham, Richard (2007). "81. Revelation". The Oxford Bible Commentary. first (paperback) ed. Barton, John & Muddiman, John (eds.). Oxford University Press. pp. 1287–1306. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.