Daily Bread

The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues^(A) came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride,^(B) the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away^(C) in the Spirit^(D) to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.^{(E) 11} It shone with the glory of God,^(F) and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper,^(G) clear as crystal.^{(H) 12} It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,^(I) and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.^{(J) 13} There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations,^(K) and on them were the names of the twelve apostles^(L) of the Lamb.

¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod^(M) of gold to measure the city, its gates^(N) and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia^[a] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human^(O) measurement, and it was 144 cubits^[b] thick.^{[c] 18} The wall was made of jasper,^(P) and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.^{(Q) 19} The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.^(R) The first foundation was jasper,^(S) the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby,^(T) the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.^{[d] 21} The twelve gates^(U) were twelve pearls,^(V) each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.^(W)

²² I did not see a temple^(X) in the city, because the Lord God Almighty^(Y) and the Lamb^(Z) are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God^(AA) gives it light,^(AB) and the Lamb^(AC) is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.^{(AD) 25} On no day will its gates^(AE) ever be shut,^(AF) for there will be no night there.^{(AG) 26} The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.^{(AH) 27} Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,^(AI) but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.^(AJ)