Revelation 21:9-17 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

(b) The Measuring of the City.

Revelation 21:9. seven bowls: cf. ch. 16.

Revelation 21:10. to a mountain: as in Ezekiel 40:2.

Revelation 21:11. jasper stone clear as crystal: possibly the stone indicated is a diamond or opal (Revelation 4:3 *).

Revelation 21:12. twelve gates: cf. the description in Ezekiel 48:31 ff.

Revelation 21:14. twelve apostles: cf. Ephesians 2:20, built on the foundation of the apostles; but it is not stated here that the apostles constituted the foundations, but that the names of the apostles were inscribed on the foundations.

Revelation 21:15. Cf. Ezekiel 40:3 and Revelation 11:2, where, however, the city is destined to destruction, the Temple and altar being measured for preservation.

Revelation 21:16. The city is not merely a square, but a perfect cube, length, breadth, and height being equal. 12, 000 furlongs: lit. stadia, i.e. nearly 1500 English miles. This figure might be intelligible when applied to the length and breadth, but when applied to height it becomes inconceivable. Such dimensions defy imagination and are permissible only in the language of symbolism (Swete).

Revelation 21:17. 144 cubits: about 216 feet. If this figure refers to the height of the wall, it seems out of all proportion to the height of the city, which was over 7, 000, 000 feet high. The wall and the city, therefore, do not correspond, and this is another indication that the figures are not to be taken literally.

Related Commentaries of Revelation 21:9

Revelation 21:9-17

9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

10 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,

11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

12 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:

13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

16 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.

17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.