Tobit 13:16
13 Go, then, and rejoice over the children of the righteous, for they will be gathered together and will praise the Lord of the ages. 14 Happy are those who love you, and happy are those who rejoice in your prosperity. Happy also are all people who grieve with you because of your afflictions; for they will rejoice with you and witness all your glory forever. 15 My soul blesses the Lord, the great King! 16 For Jerusalem will be built as his house for all ages. How happy I will be if a remnant of my descendants should survive to see your glory and acknowledge the King of heaven. The gates of Jerusalem will be built with sapphire and emerald, and all your walls with precious stones. The towers of Jerusalem will be built with gold, and their battlements with pure gold. The streets of Jerusalem will be paved with ruby and with stones of Ophir. 17 The gates of Jerusalem will sing hymns of joy, and all her houses will cry, "Hallelujah! Blessed be the God of Israel!' and the blessed will bless the holy name forever and ever."
Revelation 21:18
15 The angel who spoke to me had a golden measuring rod with which to measure the city and its foundation stones and wall. 16 Now the city is laid out as a square, its length and width the same. He measured the city with the measuring rod at 1,400 miles (its length and width and height are equal). 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which is also the angel’s. 18 The city’s wall is made of jasper and the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. 19 The foundations of the city’s wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls—each one of the gates is made from just one pearl! The main street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God—the All-Powerful—and the Lamb are its temple.
Notes and References
"... John drew on several New Jerusalem traditions to create his own unique account in Rev 21:10-21; in particular, he was influenced by Isaiah 54:11-12 and several Ezekiel texts (Ezekiel 40:2-16; 41:4-5; 42:15-20; 43:2-5; 45:2; 48:18,20,30-35). Although a full analysis of this passage is not feasible here, distinctive traits and word order in Revelation 21:21 make it possible that John drew inspiration directly from the architectural tradition in Tobit 13:17-18. Both John and Tobit place the street tradition last in their outline of the city. Fekkes rightly points out here, “It is most unlikely that each [author] would also have taken the first element in Isaiah’s description and moved it to the end of their building inventories. It is more natural to assume that John’s inclusion of the street motif and its position presuppose the interpretation of Isaiah 54:11b given in Tobit 13:17.” Moreover, John’s association of the street with “pure gold,” in 21:21 points to the influence of Tobit where the words “pure gold” (13:16) immediately precede “streets” (13:17) ..."
Skemp, Vincent "Avenues of Intertextuality between Tobit and the New Testament" in Corley, Jeremy (ed.) Intertextual Studies in Ben Sira and Tobit: Essays in Honor of Alexander A. Di Lella (pp. 43-70) Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2005