Then I saw a new heaven, and a new earth. The old heaven, the old earth had vanished, and there was no more sea.

And I, John, saw in my vision that holy city which is the new Jerusalem, being sent down by God from heaven, all clothed in readiness, like a bride who has adorned herself to meet her husband.

I heard, too, a voice which cried aloud from the throne, Here is God’s tabernacle pitched among men; he will dwell with them, and they will be his own people, and he will be among them, their own God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, or mourning, or cries of distress, no more sorrow; those old things have passed away.

And he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. (These words I was bidden write down, words most sure and true.)✻

And he said to me, It is over. I am Alpha, I am Omega, the beginning of all things and their end; those who are thirsty shall drink—it is my free gift—out of the spring whose water is life.

Who wins the victory? He shall have his share in this; I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But not the cowards, not those who refuse belief, not those whose lives are abominable; not the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, not those who are false in any of their dealings. Their lot awaits them in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, and it is the second death.

And now an angel came and spoke to me, one of those seven who bear the seven cups charged with the seven last plagues. Come with me, he said, and I will shew thee that bride, whose bridegroom is the Lamb.

And he carried me off in a trance to a great mountain, high up, and there shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, as it came down, sent by God, from heaven,

clothed in God’s glory. The light that shone over it was bright as any precious stone, as the jasper when it is most like crystal;

and a great wall was raised high all round it, with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel carved on the lintels;

three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, three on the west.

The city wall, too, had twelve foundation-stones; and these, too, bore names, those of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.

The angel who was speaking to me had a rod of gold for a rule, to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall.

The city lies foursquare, the same in its length as in its breadth, and when he measured it with his rod, he counted twelve thousand furlongs. Length and breadth and height are everywhere equal.✻

And when he measured its wall, he counted a hundred and forty-four cubits, reckoned by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.

The fashioning of its wall was of jasper, but the city itself was pure gold, that seemed to have the purity of glass.

And the foundations of the city wall were worked in every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was a jasper, the second a sapphire, the third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald;

the fifth a sardonyx, the sixth a sardius, the seventh a chrysolite, the eighth a beryl; the ninth a topaz, the tenth a chrysoprase, the eleventh a jacynth, the twelfth an amethyst.

And the twelve gates were twelve single pearls, one pearl for each gate; and the street of the city was of pure gold, that seemed like transparent glass.

I saw no temple in it; its temple is the Lord God Almighty, its temple is the Lamb.

Nor had the city any need of sun or moon to shew in it; the glory of God shone there, and the Lamb gave it light.

The nations will live and move in its radiance; the kings of the earth will bring it their tribute of praise and honour.

All day the gates will never be shut (there will be no night there),

as the nations flock into it with their honour and their praise.

Nothing that is unclean, no source of corruption or deceit can ever hope to find its way in; there is no entrance but for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.