Revelation 21:2 BSB

Revelation 21:2

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

KJV

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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Commentary

5 voices

Irenaeus

Against Heresies Book V (202)

When these things, therefore, pass away above the earth, John, the Lord's disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above shall [then] descend, as a bride adorned for her husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with men. Of this Jerusalem the former one is an image-that Jerusalem of the former earth in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

And I saw the holy city - The new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, are closely connected. This city is wholly new, belonging not to this world, not to the millennium, but to eternity.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

In this new world the apostle saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, not locally, but as to its original: this new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, beautified with all perfection of wisdom and holiness, meet for the full fruition of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

And I John - The writer of this book; whether the evangelist and apostle, or John the Ephesian presbyter, has been long doubted in the Church. New Jerusalem - See the notes on Gal 4:24-27 (note). This doubtless means the Christian Church in a state of great prosperity and purity; but some think eternal blessedness is intended. Coming down from God - It is a maxim of the ancient Jews that both the tabernacle, and the temple, and Jerusalem itself, came down from heaven. And in Midrash Hanaalem, Sohar Gen. fol. 69, col. 271, Rab.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

22 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
καὶ	kai	And	G2532 →
τὴν	tēn	the	G3588 →
πόλιν	polin	city	G4172 →
τὴν	tēn	<the>	G3588 →
ἁγίαν	hagian	holy	G40 →
Ἰερουσαλὴμ	Ierousalēm	Jerusalem	G2419 →
καινὴν	kainēn	new	G2537 →
εἶδον	eidon	I saw	G1492 →
καταβαίνουσαν	katabainousan	coming down	G2597 →
ἐκ	ek	out of	G1537 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
οὐρανοῦ	ouranou	heaven	G3772 →
ἀπὸ	apo	from	G575 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
θεοῦ	theou	God	G2316 →
ἡτοιμασμένην	hētoimasmenēn	prepared	G2090 →
ὡς	hōs	as	G5613 →
νύμφην	numphēn	a bride	G3565 →
κεκοσμημένην	kekosmēmenēn	adorned	G2885 →
τῷ	tō	for the	G3588 →
ἀνδρὶ	andri	husband	G435 →
αὐτῆς.	autēs	of her.	G846 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Hebrews 13:14
For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
leads to
- Philippians 3:20
  But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Through
Hebrews 11:10
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
leads to
- Hebrews 12:22
  Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Hebrews 13:14
  For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1
  Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Through
Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom…
leads to
- Revelation 19:7–8
  Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.
- Philippians 3:9
  and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
- Psalms 132:9
  May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and Your saints shout for joy.
Through
Revelation 3:12
The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the…
leads to
- Revelation 22:4
  They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

Featured studies on this passage

On Revelation 21:2

Creation to New Creation

The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city — and the city has the garden in the middle of it. Seven explicit textual echoes bind Genesis 1–2 to Revelation 21–22.

Open the study →