21:15 The angel 7 who spoke to me had a golden measuring rod with which to measure the city and its foundation stones and wall. 21:16 Now 8 the city is laid out as a square, 9 its length and width the same. He 10 measured the city with the measuring rod 11 at fourteen hundred miles 12 (its length and width and height are equal).
21:22 Now 13 I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God – the All-Powerful 14 – and the Lamb are its temple. 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. 21:24 The nations 15 will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur 16 into it.
1 tn Or “dwelling place”; traditionally, “tabernacle”; literally “tent.”
2 tn Or “people”; Grk “men” (ἀνθρώπων, anqrwpwn), a generic use of the term. In the translation “human beings” was used here because “people” occurs later in the verse and translates a different Greek word (λαοί, laoi).
3 tn Grk “men, and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
4 tc ‡ Most
5 tn Grk “from God, having the glory of God.” Here a new sentence was started in the translation by supplying the words “the city” to refer back to the previous clause and translating the participle (“having”) as a finite verb.
6 tn On the term ἰάσπιδι (iaspidi) BDAG 465 s.v. ἴασπις states, “jasper, a precious stone found in various colors, mostly reddish, somet. green…brown, blue, yellow, and white. In antiquity the name was not limited to the variety of quartz now called jasper, but could designate any opaque precious stone. Rv 21:18f. W. λίθος 4:3 (TestSol C 11:8). λίθος ἴασπις κρυσταλλίζων a stone of crystal-clear jasper 21:11 (cp. Is 54:12); perh. the opal is meant here; acc. to some, the diamond.”
9 tn Grk “the one”; the referent (the angel of v. 9) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the somewhat parenthetical nature of the description of the city.
14 tn Or “the city lies square.” On κεῖμαι (keimai) in this context, BDAG 537 s.v. 2 states, “lie, of things…ἡ πόλις τετράγωνος κεῖται is laid out as a square Rv 21:16.”
15 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
16 tn Grk “with the rod”; the word “measuring” is supplied from the description in v. 15.
17 tn Or “two thousand two hundred kilometers,” Grk “12,000 stades.” A stade was a measure of length about 607 ft (185 m).
17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Every verse from here to the end of this chapter begins with καί in Greek, but due to differences between Greek and contemporary English style, these have not been translated.
18 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”
21 tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
22 tn Or “splendor”; Grk “glory.”