A New Heaven and a New Earth

1Then 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. 2And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. 3And 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. 4He 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.”

5And 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.” 6He 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. 7The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But to 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.”

The New Jerusalem Descends

9Then 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!” 10So 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. 11The city possesses the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 12It 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. 13There 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. 14The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15The angel who spoke to me had a golden measuring rod with which to measure the city and its foundation stones and wall. 16Now the city is laid out as a square, its length and width the same. He measured the city with the measuring rod at fourteen hundred miles (its length and width and height are equal). 17He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits according to human measurement, which is also the angel’s. 18The city’s wall is made of jasper and the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. 19The 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, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21And 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.

22Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God – the All-Powerful – and the Lamb are its temple. 23The 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. 24The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it. 25Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there). 26They will bring the grandeur and the wealth of the nations into it, 27but 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.