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New Life Version

Revelation 21:21

The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each gate was made from one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold. It was as clear as glass.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Gates;   Glass;   Gold;   Heaven;   Jerusalem;   Paradox;   Pearl;   Readings, Select;   Walls, of the Cities;   Thompson Chain Reference - Future, the;   Heaven;   Heavenly;   Home;   Pearls;   The Topic Concordance - Glory;   God;   Jerusalem;   Jesus Christ;   Light;   Newness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Precious Stones;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Glass;   Jerusalem;   Pearls;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Church, the;   Create, Creation;   Dead Sea Scrolls;   Jesus Christ;   New Jerusalem;   Touch;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Gate;   Glass;   Pearl;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Gate;   Noah;   Number;   Pearl;   Thousand Years;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Art and Aesthetics;   Glass;   Heaven;   Heavenly City, the;   Minerals and Metals;   Revelation, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Pearl;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Arts;   Door ;   Gate;   Gate (2);   Gold;   Gold ;   House;   New Jerusalem;   Pearl ;   Precious Stones ;   Street;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Gate;   Glass, Looking Glass;   Gold;   Lamb;   Numbers as Symbols;   Pearl;   Stones;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Gareb;   Pearl;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gate;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Number;   Pearl;   Stones, Precious;   Street;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Ate;   Old - golden;   Pearl;   Street;   Transparent;   Twelve;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Glass;   Sapphire;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Beauty;   Gate;   Glass;   Revelation of John:;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eschatology;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
King James Version (1611)
And the twelue gates were twelue pearles, euery seuerall gate was of one pearle, and the streete of the city was pure golde, as it were transparent glasse.
King James Version
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
New American Standard Bible
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
New Century Version
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate having been made from a single pearl. And the street of the city was made of pure gold as clear as glass.
English Standard Version
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Berean Standard Bible
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as pure as transparent glass.
Contemporary English Version
Each of the twelve gates was a solid pearl. The streets of the city were made of pure gold, clear as crystal.
Complete Jewish Bible
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate made of a single pearl. The city's main street was pure gold, transparent as glass.
Darby Translation
And the twelve gates, twelve pearls; each one of the gates, respectively, was of one pearl; and the street of the city pure gold, as transparent glass.
Easy-to-Read Version
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each gate was made from one pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the twelue gates were twelue pearles, and euery gate is of one pearle, and the streete of the citie is pure golde, as shining glasse.
George Lamsa Translation
And the twelve gates were adorned with twelve pearls; one for each of the gates, and each gate was made of a single pearl; and the great street of the city was of pure gold. as it were transparent glass.
Good News Translation
The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each gate was made from a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, transparent as glass.
Lexham English Bible
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each one of the gates was from a single pearl. And the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
Literal Translation
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; respectively each one of the gates was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as transparent glass.
Amplified Bible
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each separate gate was of one single pearl. And the street (broad way) of the city was pure gold, like transparent crystal.
American Standard Version
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Bible in Basic English
And the twelve doors were twelve pearls; every door was made of one pearl; and the street of the town was clear gold, as clear as glass.
Hebrew Names Version
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
International Standard Version
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.Revelation 22:2;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of every one of the gates (a pearl), and each of every one of the pearls (a gate). And the wide street of the city was of pure gold as the brightness of light.
Murdock Translation
And the twelve gates [fn] twelve pearls; each [fn] one gate, and each [fn] one pearl: and the broad street of the city was pure gold, like brilliant glass.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The .xij. gates were .xij pearles, euery gate was of one pearle. and the streate of the citie was pure golde, as through shynyng glasse.
English Revised Version
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
World English Bible
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
Weymouth's New Testament
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each of them consisting of a single pearl. And the main street of the city was made of pure gold, resembling transparent glass.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And twelue yatis ben twelue margaritis, bi ech; `and ech yate was of ech margarete. And the stretis of the citee weren clene gold, as of glas ful schynynge.
Update Bible Version
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl; and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
New English Translation
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls—each one of the gates is made from just one pearl! The main street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
New King James Version
The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
New Living Translation
The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
New Revised Standard
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and, the twelve gates, were twelve pearls, - each one of the gates, severally, was of one pearl; and, the broadway of the city, was pure gold, as transparent glass.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each: and every several gate was of one several pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were, transparent glass.
Revised Standard Version
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
The xii. gates were xii pearles every gate was of one pearle and the strete of the cite was pure golde as thorowe shynynge glasse.
Young's Literal Translation
And the twelve gates [are] twelve pearls, each several one of the gates was of one pearl; and the broad-place of the city [is] pure gold -- as transparent glass.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the twolue gates were twolue pearles, and euery gate was of one pearle, and ye strete of the cite was pure golde, as a thoroweshyninge glasse.
Mace New Testament (1729)
the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each single gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as splendid as glass.
Simplified Cowboy Version
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each gate was made from a single pearl. The streets were pure gold that looked like glass.

Contextual Overview

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven jars full of the seven last troubles came to me and said, "Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 I was carried away in the Spirit by the angel to a very high mountain. He showed me the Holy City of Jerusalem. It was coming out of heaven from God. 11 It was filled with the shining-greatness of God. It shone like a stone worth much money, like a jasper stone. It was clear like glass. 12 It had a very high wall, and there were twelve gates. Twelve angels stood by the gates. The names of the twelve family groups of the Jewish nation were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side. There were three on the east side and three on the north side and three on the south side and three on the west side. 14 The walls were on twelve stones. The names of the twelve missionaries of the Lamb were written on the stones. 15 The angel had a stick in his hand. It was used to find out how big the city and its gates and the walls were. 16 He found out that the city was as wide as it was long and it was as high as it was wide. It was as long as a man could walk in fifty days. It was the same each way. 17 The angel found out that the walls were the same as a man taking seventy-two long steps. The angel used the same way to find out about the city as a man would have used. 18 The wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold. This gold was as clear as glass.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the twelve: Revelation 21:12, Revelation 17:4, Matthew 13:45, Matthew 13:46

every several: This may denote, that every thing will be superlatively glorious, beyond all comparison with anything ever seen on earth.

pure: Revelation 21:18, Revelation 17:4, Revelation 18:16, Revelation 22:2, 1 Kings 6:20, Isaiah 60:17, Isaiah 60:18

as it: Revelation 21:11, Revelation 21:18

Reciprocal: Job 28:18 - pearls Ezekiel 48:31 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 21:3
Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son who was born to him by Sarah.
Genesis 21:4
Then Abraham did the religious act of the Jews on Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had told him to do.
Genesis 21:34
And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Numbers 10:12
The people of Israel moved on from the Desert of Sinai. Then the cloud came down and rested in the desert of Paran.
Numbers 12:16
The people moved from Hazeroth after that. And they set up their tents in the desert of Paran.
Numbers 13:3
So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran, as the Lord had told him. All of the men were heads of the people of Israel.
Numbers 13:26
And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the people of Israel in the desert of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought news to them and to all the people, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Judges 14:2
He returned and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah. She is one of the daughters of the Philistines. Now get her for me as a wife."
1 Samuel 25:1
Now Samuel died. All Israel gathered together and was filled with sorrow for him. They buried him at his house in Ramah. Then David got ready and went down to the desert of Paran.
1 Corinthians 7:38
The man who gets married does well, but the man who does not get married does better.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls,.... Denoting the purity and preciousness of Christ, by whom the saints enter, and of the saints who enter in thereat, as well as of the place into which they enter.

Every several gate was of one pearl; the pearl of great price, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only gate, door, and way into this happy state: this shows that this account cannot be taken literally, but mystically, for no such pearl was ever known, large enough to make a gate of.

"A pearl is a hard, white, shining body, usually roundish, found in a shell fish resembling an oyster, but is three or four times the size of the common oyster; and which ordinarily yields ten or twelve pearls, and sometimes more. Those of the largest size that have been known are that of Cleopatra, valued by Pliny at centies H S, or at 80,000 pound sterling; and that brought in 1574 to Philip the Second, of the size of a pigeon's egg, worth 14,400 ducats; and that of the Emperor Rudolph, mentioned by Boetius, called "la peregrina", or the incomparable, of the size of a muscade pear, and weighing 30 carats; and that mentioned by Tavernier, in the hands of the emperor of Persia in 1633, bought of an Arab for 32,000 tomans, which, at three pounds nine shillings the toman, amounts to 110,400 pounds sterling p.''

But what is one of these pearls to make a gate of, for a wall which was an hundred and forty four cubits high? Revelation 21:17. The Jews say q, that the holy blessed God will bring precious stones and "pearls" of thirty cubits by thirty, c. and place them "in the gates of Jerusalem", as it is said, Isaiah 54:12 which must be understood also not in a literal but mystical sense: and L'Empereur r makes mention of an ancient commentary on Psalms 87:1 which says, that the holy blessed God will make a gate at the east (of the temple), and in it two doors, each of one pearl. So R. Joshua ben Levi says s, that there are in paradise two gates of agates or diamonds some render the word rubies.

And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass; denoting the preciousness and delightfulness of the saints' conversation one with another; and the purity and cleanness of it, there being no mire and filth of sin in these streets; and the sincerity and openness of it, each one walking in his uprightness; which will be seen and known of all, as clearly as anything can be beheld in a transparent glass. So the Jews say t of paradise, that the ground is paved with precious stones, the lustre of which may be compared to the light of burning torches.

p Chambers's Cyclopedia in the word "Pearl". q T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 100. 1. & Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 1. & Yalkut, par. 2. fol. 54. 1. r Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 2. Vid. Yalkut Simconi, par. 2. fol. 54. 1. s Yalkut Simeoni, par. 1. fol. 7. 1. t Sepher. Avodah Hakkodesh, fol. 46. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the twelve gates - Revelation 21:12.

Were twelve pearls - See the Revelation 17:4 note; Matthew 13:46 note.

Every several gate was of one pearl - Each gate. Of course, this is not to be understood literally. The idea is that of ornament and beauty, and nothing could give a more striking view of the magnificence of the future abode of the saints.

And the street of the city was pure gold - Was paved with gold; that is, all the vacant space that was not occupied with buildings was of pure gold. See the notes on Revelation 21:18.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 21:21. The twelve gates were twelve pearls — This must be merely figurative, for it is out of all the order of nature to produce a pearl large enough to make a gate to such an immense city. But St. John may refer to some relations of this nature among his countrymen, who talk much of most prodigious pearls. I shall give an example: "When Rabbi Juchanan (John) once taught that God would provide jewels and pearls, thirty cubits every way, ten of which should exceed in height twenty cubits, and would place them in the gates of Jerusalem, according to what is said Isaiah 54:12, I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, one of his disciples ridiculed him, saying, Where can such be found, since at present there is none so large as a pigeon's egg? Afterwards, being at sea in a ship, he saw the ministering angels cutting gems and pearls; and he asked them for what purpose they were preparing those. They answered, to place them in the gates of Jerusalem. On his return he found Rabbi Juchanan teaching as usual; to whom he said, Explain, master, what I have seen. He answered, Thou knave, unless thou hadst seen, thou wouldst not have believed; wilt thou not receive the saying of the wise men? At that moment he fixed his eyes upon him, and he was reduced into a heap of bones."-Bava bathra, fol. 77, 1, and Sanhedrim, fol. 100, 1, page 393. Edit. Cocceii. See Schoettgen.


 
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