Revelation 21 — Greek text and reception
Each card preserves the Greek reading and its textual and reception notes. This source provides a Greek study edition; Hebrew counterparts and Hebrew–Greek classifications are not supplied.
Chapter 21
A new heaven and a new earth
Verse 21:1
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: New heaven and earth follow the passing of the first, while the sea is expressly no more. New does not by itself settle every question of replacement or renewal.
Reception: R072 (Irenaeus; scope 20:11–15,21:1–6); R078 (Augustine; scope 21:1–5).
Verse 21:2
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The holy city descends from God, prepared like an adorned bride. The comparison does not replace the city's name or the direction of its coming.
Reception: R072 (Irenaeus; scope 20:11–15,21:1–6); R078 (Augustine; scope 21:1–5).
Verse 21:3
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look, God’s tent is with human beings, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Peoples, laoi, is plural. The accessed clause ends God Himself will be with them, without an added their God after it.
Reception: R072 (Irenaeus; scope 20:11–15,21:1–6); R078 (Augustine; scope 21:1–5).
Textual [G]: NA28 reads ἔσται [αὐτῶν θεός] in brackets (SBLGNT omits); the rendering above follows SBLGNT, and NA28 would read "God Himself will be with them, their God".
Verse 21:4
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more; neither mourning nor crying nor pain will be any more. The first things passed away.”
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Every tear is removed along with death, mourning, crying and pain. The reason is the passing of the first things, not merely a change in human feeling.
Reception: R072 (Irenaeus; scope 20:11–15,21:1–6); R078 (Augustine; scope 21:1–5); R081 (John Bunyan; scope 3:4,4:4,7:17,14:1–5,21:4); R089 (John Bunyan; scope 2:7,3:4,21:4–5).
Textual [G]: NA28 reads [ὅτι] τὰ πρῶτα in brackets (SBLGNT omits); the rendering above follows SBLGNT, and NA28 would read "because the first things passed away".
Verse 21:5
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the One sitting upon the throne said, “Look, I make all things new.” And He says, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The enthroned speaker makes all things new and commands writing. Faithful and true describes the words as assurance of the announcement.
Reception: R072 (Irenaeus; scope 20:11–15,21:1–6); R078 (Augustine; scope 21:1–5); R089 (John Bunyan; scope 2:7,3:4,21:4–5).
Verse 21:6
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And He said to me, “They have come to be. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who thirsts I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: They have come to be renders plural gegonan, not singular it has happened. The referent is the completed things in the announcement.
Reception: R072 (Irenaeus; scope 20:11–15,21:1–6).
Verse 21:7
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The conqueror inherits these things and receives a filial relation to God. Son is retained rather than changing the singular promise into a new collective title.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:8
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
But as for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share is in the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Their share contrasts with the inheritance in 21:7. The list retains unbelieving, which can also convey unfaithful, without identifying a modern population as its exclusive referent.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
The bride, the holy city
Verse 21:9
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And one of the seven angels having the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The Greek has an irregular masculine participle for full among the angels and bowls wording; the English relates the plagues to the bowls without claiming regular agreement in the source.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:10
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And he carried me away in the Spirit upon a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The angel's promised bride is shown as holy Jerusalem from a high mountain. Coming down from God repeats the city's heavenly origin.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:11
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
having the glory of God. Her radiance was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone shining as crystal,
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The city's radiance derives from God's glory and is compared with crystal-like jasper. Modern mineral opacity does not override the vision's comparison.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:12
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
having a great and high wall, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Twelve gates have twelve angels and bear the twelve tribal names. The verse does not supply an actual sequence of the names on the gates.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Textual [G]: NA28 reads ἐστιν [τὰ ὀνόματα] in brackets (SBLGNT omits); the rendering above follows SBLGNT, and NA28 would read "which are the names of the twelve tribes".
Verse 21:13
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
From the east, three gates; and from the north, three gates; and from the south, three gates; and from the west, three gates.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Three gates face each direction. East, north, south and west remain in the source order, rather than being rearranged into a customary compass sequence.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2).
Verse 21:14
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and upon them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Twelve apostolic names mark twelve foundations, distinguished from the tribal names on the gates. The individual apostles are not listed here.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:15
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the one speaking with me had a golden measuring reed, to measure the city and its gates and its wall.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: A golden reed is the measuring instrument. City, gates and wall are separately specified as objects of measurement.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:16
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its width. And he measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand stadia; its length and width and height are equal.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Stadia retains the ancient distance measure. All three equal dimensions are stated; no architectural scale model or modern conversion is inserted.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2).
Verse 21:17
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And he measured its wall at a hundred forty-four cubits, a human measure, which is an angel’s.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Cubits retains the ancient unit. The verse does not explicitly call this measurement the wall’s height or thickness; neither is supplied.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:18
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the construction of its wall was jasper, and the city pure gold like pure glass.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Jasper is the wall's material, while the city is pure gold compared with pure glass. The comparison remains even where ordinary materials differ.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2).
Verse 21:19
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The stone names are conventional equivalents of ancient names, not claims of exact modern mineral classification; the same qualification applies through 21:20.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2).
Verse 21:20
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The fifth through twelfth stones complete the ordered foundation list. These conventional ancient-name equivalents remain provisional mineral identifications, as explained at 21:19.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2).
Verse 21:21
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was from one pearl. And the broad street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Each gate is made from a single pearl. The city's broad street is singular and its gold is again compared with glass, now expressly transparent.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2); R093 (John Bunyan; scope 21:21,21:23).
God and the Lamb are its temple
Verse 21:22
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The absence of a temple building is explained by God Almighty and the Lamb being its temple. The explanation does not say divine presence has ceased.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:23
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The city needs neither sun nor moon for light because God's glory illuminates it. The Lamb is its lamp; the verse does not explicitly say the sun and moon were destroyed.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2); R093 (John Bunyan; scope 21:21,21:23).
Verse 21:24
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And the nations will walk through its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The nations has no added of those who are saved in this verse. The kings bring their glory without an additional honor here; honor appears in 21:26.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:25
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And its gates will certainly not be shut by day, for there will be no night there,
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: The gates' daytime openness is followed by the absence of night. The emphatic negative excludes a later closing within this description.
Reception: R067 (Victorinus tradition; scope 21:13,21:16,21:18–21,21:23,21:25,22:1–2); R094 (John Bunyan; scope 4:8,21:25).
Verse 21:26
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Both glory and honor of the nations are brought into the city. The plural subject remains unnamed here rather than being replaced with a newly specified group.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.
Verse 21:27
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
And nothing common, and no one practicing abomination and falsehood, will ever enter it, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Textual & Reception Notes
Textual [G]: Common renders koinon, meaning profane or unclean in the contrast with the holy city.
Reception: No passage-specific reception verified in this review.