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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 21:24, the nations walk by its light
Nations walking by the city's light and kings bringing their glory into it come from Isaiah 60:3, 5, the pilgrimage of the nations to Zion.
Revelation 21:24, in every translation this tool compares.
A lighthouse that once guided one harbor's boats can end up guiding ships from every country. Isaiah 60 pictures nations coming to Jerusalem's light and kings to her shining dawn. They bring their wealth with them. John sees the nations walking by the city's light. The kings of the earth bring their glory into it. In Revelation, kings of the earth were Babylon's allies. Here kings come to worship.
Nations (ethne) and kings coming to the city because of its light. The Greek of Isaiah 60:3 has nations going by your light (to photi sou) and kings by your brightness; John has the nations walking through its light (dia tou photos autes) and the kings of the earth.
Isaiah's nations bring their wealth, the Hebrew chayil. John says they bring their glory. Beale notes that the Greek translation never renders chayil as glory, so the change is John's: the nations bring themselves as worshipers more than goods. John also adds of the earth to Isaiah's kings, the phrase used earlier for Babylon's allies.
In Isaiah the nations come to serve Israel and see God in Zion. John sees redeemed people from the nations inside the new Jerusalem with God's people from Israel. Beale reads the kings as converted, set against the kings who brought their glory to Babylon in chapter 18. Wright hears Psalm 72 too.
Not a quotation of Isaiah 60. John takes up Isaiah's nations and kings drawn to the city's light, in words of his own.
Isaiah 60:3 in Greek reads kai poreusontai ethne to photi sou, kai basileis te lamproteti sou, nations will go by your light and kings by your brightness. Isaiah 60:5 has the wealth of the sea and of nations coming to Zion. Revelation 21:24 reads kai peripatesousin ta ethne dia tou photos autes, kai hoi basileis tes ges pherousin ten doxan auton eis auten. Beale sets the texts side by side and says the parallels, with Isaiah 60:19 in 21:23, show the vision keeps alluding to Isaiah 60. He adds Isaiah 2:2-5, where nations stream to Zion and walk in the Lord's light. Rissi, as Beale reports, takes kings of the earth from Psalm 89:27; Beale finds Isaiah 60 better. Keener cites Isaiah 60:3-22 and 66:12. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible says the verse recalls Isaiah 60:3, 5, 11. Wright names Isaiah 60 above all, with Psalm 72, Isaiah 49:6-7 and Zechariah 14:16-17.
Rissi and Vogelgesang, as Beale reports, read the open city as a sign that even the judged will one day come in; Beale rejects that as too literal. Fekkes suggests John left glory ambiguous: the nations' riches against Revelation 18, and their worship. The ESV Study Bible reads the kings as those whose names are in the Lamb's book of life. Beale reads the picture as a figure: the nations are saved along with Israel, not later. MacArthur reads the nations as redeemed people of every ethnic group, living in the city's light with no divisions between them.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 21:24-26
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 21:24
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 21:24
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 21:24-27
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 21:24
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 21:6-21
- Septuagint, Isaiah 60:3, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 21:24
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 21:24
