And I saw a new sky and a new earth, because the first sky and the first earth had gone, and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the sky from God, prepared like a bride dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look — God’s tent is with people, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them. And he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, and there will be no more grief or crying or pain, because the first things have gone.”

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look — I am making everything new.” And he said, “Write, because these words are trustworthy and true.” And he 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 freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who comes through it will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly and the unfaithful and the detestable, and murderers and the sexually immoral and drug-workers and idol-worshippers and everyone who deals in lies — their share is in the lake burning with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.”

And one of the seven messengers who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me: “Come here — I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me off in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the sky from God, with God’s glory. Its brightness was like a very precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal.

It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and twelve messengers at the gates, and names written on them — the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, three on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve emissaries of the Lamb.

And the one speaking with me had a gold measuring rod, to measure the city and its gates and its wall. And the city lies as a square, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with the rod: twelve thousand stadia — its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall: a hundred and forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the messenger was using.

And the wall was built of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the city wall were decorated with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls — each gate made of a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

And I saw no temple in it, because the Lord God the Ruler over everything is its temple, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory lit it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there. And they will bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it. And nothing unclean will ever come into it, and nobody who does what is detestable or false — only those written in the Lamb’s scroll of life.