Revelation 21:3

21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence ¹  of God is among human beings. ²  He ³  will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. ⁴ 

Revelation 21:11

21:11 The city possesses ⁵  the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper. ⁶ 

Revelation 21:15-16

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).

Revelation 21:22-24

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.

[21:3]  ¹ tn Or “dwelling place”; traditionally, “tabernacle”; literally “tent.”

[21:3]  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).

[21:3]  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.

[21:3]  ⁴ tc ‡ Most mss (א Ï^K) do not add the words “[as] their God” (αὐτῶν θεός, autwn qeos) after “he will be with them.” The mss with these words include A 2030 2050 2329 al. The Andreas group (Ï^A) also has the words, but in a different arrangement with the preceding (ἔσται μετ᾿ αὐτῶν θεὸς αὐτῶν, estai met’ autwn qeo" autwn). Not only do the words float, but scribes may have been motivated to make a connection here more directly with Isa 7:14; 8:8; Jer 24:7; 31:33; Zech 8:8. In light of sufficient external evidence as well as the possibility that the longer reading is theologically motivated, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ places the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[21:11]  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.

[21:11]  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.”

[21:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (the angel of v. 9) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:16]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the somewhat parenthetical nature of the description of the city.

[21:16]  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.”

[21:16]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “with the rod”; the word “measuring” is supplied from the description in v. 15.

[21:16]  ¹⁷ tn Or “two thousand two hundred kilometers,” Grk “12,000 stades.” A stade was a measure of length about 607 ft (185 m).

[21:22]  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.

[21:22]  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.”

[21:24]  ²¹ tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[21:24]  ²² tn Or “splendor”; Grk “glory.”