^21:10So²³ he took me away in the Spirit²⁴ to a huge, majestic mountain²⁵ and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. ^21:11The city possesses²⁶ the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper.²⁷^21:12It has²⁸ a massive, high wall²⁹ with twelve gates,³⁰ with twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel³¹ are written on the gates.³²^21:13There are³³ 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.³⁴^21:14The³⁵ wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

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Footnotes

23 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation.
24 Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [], ).
25 Grk “to a mountain great and high.”
26 Grk “from God, having the glory of God.” Here a new sentence was started in the translation by supplying the words “the city” to refer back to the previous clause and translating the participle (“having”) as a finite verb.
27 On the term ἰάσπιδι (iaspidi) ἴασπις states, “jasper, a precious stone found in various colors, mostly reddish, somet. green … brown, blue, yellow, and white. In antiquity the name was not limited to the variety of quartz now called jasper, but could designate any opaque precious stone. Rv 21:18f. W. λίθος 4:3 (TestSol C 11:8). λίθος ἴασπις κρυσταλλίζων a stone of crystal-clear jasper 21:11 (cp. Is 54:12); perh. the opal is meant here; to some, the diamond.”
28 Grk “jasper, having.” Here a new sentence was started in the translation.
29 Grk “a (city) wall great and high.”
30 On this term πυλών 1 states, “gate, esp. of the large, impressive gateways at the entrance of temples and palaces … of the entrances of the heavenly Jerusalem … οἱ πυλῶνες αὐτῆς οὐ μὴ κλεισθῶσιν its entrances shall never be shut Rv 21:25; cp. vss. 12ab, 13abcd, 15, 21ab; 22:14.”
31 Grk “of the sons of Israel.” The translation “nation of Israel” is given in L&N 11.58.
32 Grk “on them”; the referent (the gates) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
33 The words “There are” have been supplied to make a complete English sentence. This is a continuation of the previous sentence, a lengthy and complicated one in Greek.
34 The word “side” has been supplied four times in this verse for clarity.
35 Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

NLTNew Living Translation

So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, that has the glory of God. Its radiance is like a precious stone, something like a jasper stone, shining like crystal. It has a great and high wall that has twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written on the gates which are of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel—on the east, three gates, and on the north, three gates, and on the south, three gates, and on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

KJV 1900King James Version

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light 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 gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

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