King James Version · Under Rome
Revelation 21
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And I saw a new and a new earth: for the first and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I saw the city, new , coming down from out of , prepared as a adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of saying, Behold, the of is with men, and he will with them, and they shall be his people, and himself shall be with them, and be their . And shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more , neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and . And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall all things; and I will be his , and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the , and , and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with and brimstone: which is the second . And there came unto me one of the seven which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the , ’s wife. And he carried me away in to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the , descending out of from , Having the of : and her was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve , and at the twelve , and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the : On the east three ; on the north three ; on the south three ; and on the west three . And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve of . And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four , according to the measure of a man, that is, of . And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve were twelve pearls; every several was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for Almighty and are of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the of did lighten it, and is thereof. And the nations of them which are shall walk in of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their and into it. And the of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the and of the nations into it. And there shall in no enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh , or maketh a lie: but they which are written in ’s .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.