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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more.⁠ 2 And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.⁠ 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”⁠ 5 And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then he said to me, “Write it down, because these words are reliable and true.” 6 He also said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.⁠ To the one who is thirsty I will give water free of charge from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.” 9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!” 10 So he took me away in the Spirit to a huge, majestic mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.⁠ 11 The city possesses the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper.⁠ 12 It has a massive, high wall with twelve gates, with twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel are written on the gates.⁠ 13 There are three gates on the east side, three gates on the north side, three gates on the south side, and three gates on the west side. 14 The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 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. 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.⁠ 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it.⁠ 25 Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there).⁠ 26 They will bring the grandeur and the wealth of the nations into it, 27 but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Texts in conversation

Compare Tobit 13:16 and Revelation 21:18

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

Tobit pictures a renewed Jerusalem with walls of precious stones, towers of gold, and streets of gems. Revelation gives a similar picture of the New Jerusalem and uses the same kind of imagery to shape its vision of the world to come.

Passages

Tobit 13:16

Deuterocanon
13 Then go and be exceeding glad for the sons of the righteous: For they all shall be gathered together, And bless the everlasting Lord. 14 Blessed shall they be that love you; And blessed shall they be That shall rejoice for your peace: And blessed shall be all the men That shall sorrow for you For all your chastisements: Because they shall rejoice in you And shall see all your joy for ever. 15 My soul does bless the Lord the great King; 16 For Jerusalem shall be built again as his house to all the ages. Happy shall I be if the remnant of my seed come to see your glory And give thanks to the King of heaven. And the gates of Jerusalem shall be built with sapphire and emerald, And all your walls with precious stone. The towers of Jerusalem shall be built with gold, And their battlements with pure gold. The streets of Jerusalem shall be paved With carbuncle and stones of Ophir. 17 And the gates of Jerusalem shall utter hymns of gladness And all her houses shall say, Halleluiah. Blessed is the God of Israel. And the blessed shall bless the name That is holy for ever and ever.
225–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tobit

Revelation 21:18

New Testament
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.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

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) ..."
Vincent Skemp, “Avenues of Intertextuality between Tobit and the New Testament,” in Intertextual Studies in Ben Sira and Tobit: Essays in Honor of Alexander A. Di Lella, ed. Jeremy Corley and Vincent Skemp, CBQMS 38 (Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2005), 43–70.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Tobit 13:16 and Revelation 21:18

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