Tool Alpha
Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 21:2, the holy city, prepared as a bride
The new Jerusalem comes down dressed as a bride, from Isaiah's holy city Jerusalem and the bride God adorns in Isaiah 61:10.
Revelation 21:2, in every translation this tool compares.
A wedding speech can borrow a line from the couple's favorite book, and everyone in the room hears it. Isaiah called Jerusalem the holy city and told her to put on her beautiful clothes. Later he pictures God's people dressed like a bride for her wedding. John sees the holy city come down from God, and she is dressed as a bride. Isaiah's promises to a broken city now describe the city of God's people at the end.
The holy city Jerusalem: Isaiah 52:1 in Greek has Ierousalem, polis he hagia, and John has ten polin ten hagian Ierousalem. The bride and her adornment: Isaiah 61:10 in Greek has hos nymphen katekosmese me, as a bride he adorned me, and John has hos nymphen kekosmemenen, as a bride adorned.
John adds new to Jerusalem. Beale traces that to Isaiah 62:2, where Jerusalem gets a new name, explained in 62:4-5 as a new marriage with God. In Isaiah, Zion is told to rise and dress. In John the city comes down out of heaven, already made ready by God. John also names the husband: in 21:9 the bride is the Lamb's wife.
Isaiah was speaking to a city wrecked by Babylon, promising that God would take her back like a bride. John gives that promise its final form. Beale and Keener read the city as its people: the bride is the whole company of the redeemed, Jewish and Gentile, wearing the salvation God gives. Revelation 19:7-8 used the same Isaiah passage when the Lamb's marriage came.
Not a quotation of one verse. John joins two of Isaiah's pictures, the holy city Jerusalem and the bride God adorns, in a sentence of his own.
Beale finds three allusions to one stretch of Isaiah in this verse. The holy city Jerusalem is Isaiah 52:1, which in the Greek reads endysai ten doxan sou, Ierousalem, polis he hagia, put on your glory, O Jerusalem, holy city. The added new comes from Isaiah 62:1-2, where Jerusalem is called by a new name. The bride adorned for her husband is Isaiah 61:10, where Zion says in the Greek hos nymphen katekosmese me kosmo, as a bride he adorned me with ornament. Revelation has hetoimasmenen hos nymphen kekosmemenen to andri autes, made ready like a bride dressed for the man she marries. Beale lists 21:1-2 among the clear allusions to Isaiah 40-66. He notes that 4 Ezra 10 also pictures the coming Jerusalem as a woman, and that Revelation 3:12 already calls the church of Philadelphia, Jews and Gentiles, the new Jerusalem. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible and the CSB Study Bible both point to Isaiah 52:1 and 61:10; the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible cites Isaiah 52:1.
Heiser notes that Isaiah 52 already calls Jerusalem the holy city, at a time when the real city faced judgment. He reads the title as a hint of Jerusalem's restored future, with the promise that the unclean will no longer enter her. The language, he says, comes straight out of the Old Testament, and he points to Isaiah 61:10 and Isaiah 62 for the bride.
Keener notes the title holy city was common for Jerusalem in Jewish writings and on Jewish coins, so it need not point to Isaiah alone; he also cites Isaiah 48:2 and 62:12. The sources also differ on the city: Beale and the ESV Study Bible read it as the church, while the CSB Study Bible treats the bride and city as a picture of the people in a place God prepares. Keener notes that Jerusalem meant both the place and its people, and Beale reads the picture as a figure for God's people in a real new world. MacArthur reads the new Jerusalem as a real city, the capital of heaven, already in existence and now coming down; the whole city, with all its saints, is called the bride.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-21-1-8\/","n":"Revelation 21:1-8, new heaven, new earth, no more sea","s":"John sees a new heaven and a new earth, with no more sea, and the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God like a bride dressed for her husband. A voice announces that God's dwelling is now with people, that he will wipe away every tear, and that he makes all things new; the thirsty will drink freely, while the cowardly, the faithless, murderers, sorcerers, idolaters and liars have their place in the lake of fire.","r":"Revelation 21:1-8"}
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 21:2 and 21:11
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 21:2
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 21:2
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 21:2
- CSB Study Bible, note and cross-references on Revelation 21:2
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 21:2
- Septuagint, Isaiah 52:1 and 61:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 21:2
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 21-22: The New Heaven and the New Earth, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 21:2
