English
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth passed away. And there was no sea anymore. And I saw the holy city Jerusalem descending from heaven, from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘See, the dwelling of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be their god. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, nor grief, nor screaming, nor pain. They will not exist anymore because the first things passed away.’
And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘See, I make all things new.’
And he said, ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’
And he said to me, ‘It has happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give from the stream of life’s water. Whoever conquers will inherit these things and I will be his god and he will be my son. But the cowardly and unfaithful and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share is in the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’
Interpretation
After the punishment of sinners in the lake of fire, the reward for the righteous is shown: the creation of a new cosmos, with their dwelling in a new Jerusalem. These concepts emerged, in less literal terms, during the Babylonian exile, and received embellishments over the following centuries until they became full literal. The old cosmos would be destroyed or transformed in a raging fire, while a paradisiacal Jerusalem, constructed from precious metals and clear gemstones, would be revealed from heaven. The removal of any sea from the world may trace back to the understanding of the oceans as the primordial waters of chaos, embodied by monsters like Leviathan, Python, or Tiamat.
Parallels
Isaiah
25.8 Then the Lord Yhwh will wipe away the tears from all faces
35.10 And the ransomed of Yhwh shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
41.4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yhwh, am first, and will be with the last.
42.9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
44.6 I am the first and I am the last
48.6 You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forward I make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known.
48.12 I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.
55.1 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
65.17 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
66.22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says Yhwh, so shall your descendants and your name remain.
Jeremiah
24.7 I will give them a heart to know that I am Yhwh; and they shall be my people and I will be their god, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
31.33 I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their god, and they shall be my people.
Ezekiel
11.20 Then they shall be my people, and I will be their god.
14.11 Then they shall be my people, and I will be their god, says the Lord Yhwh.
34.30 They shall know that I, Yhwh their god, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord Yhwh.
37.23, 27 Then they shall be my people, and I will be their god. […] My dwelling-place shall be with them; and I will be their god, and they shall be my people. Then the nations shall know that I, Yhwh, sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them for evermore.
Exodus
25.8 And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.
Leviticus
26.12 And I will walk among you, and will be your god, and you shall be my people.
Zechariah
2.11 For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to Yhwh on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst.
8.8 They shall be my people and I will be their god
1 Enoch
90.29 And I saw until the Lord of the sheep brought a new house, larger and higher than that first one, and he erected it on the site of the first one that had been rolled up. And all its pillars were new, and its beams were new, and its ornaments were new and larger than the first one, the old one that he had removed.
Sibylline Oracles
2.252–259 And then all will pass through the blazing river and the unquenchable flame. All the righteous will be saved, but the impious will then be destroyed for all ages, as many as formerly did evil or committed murders, and as many as are accomplices, liars, and crafty thieves, and dread destroyers of houses, parasites, and adulterers, who pour out slander, terrible violent men, and lawless ones, and idol worshipers
5.447–448 In the last time, one day the sea will be dry, and ships will then no longer sail to Italy
7.118 Woe to you, wretched one, woe, evil-spirited sea.
Jubilees
1.17 And I shall build my sanctuary in their midst, and I shall dwell with them. And I shall be their god and they will be my people truly and rightly.
Testament of Isaac
6.35 ‘He is the first and the last, as the prophets have said.’
2 Corinthians
6.16 For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their god, and they shall be my people.
2 Enoch
10.5–6 They steal souls secretly; who untie the yoke that has been secured; who enrich themselves by fraud from the possessions of others, and bring about the death of the hungry by starvation; not being able to provide sustenance; and not being able to supply clothing, take away the last garment of the naked; who do not acknowledge their Creator, but bow down to vain gods, constructing images, and bowing down to something made by hand—and for all these this place has been prepared as an eternal reward.
65.9 And there will be among them neither weariness nor suffering nor affliction nor expectation of violence nor the pain of the night nor darkness.
Hebrews
8.10 I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their god, and they shall be my people.
4 Ezra
7.26 ‘For indeed the time will come, when the signs that I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city that now is not seen shall appear, and the land that now is hidden shall be disclosed.’
2 Baruch
6.3 And behold, suddenly a strong spirit lifted me and carried me above the wall of Jerusalem.
51.2, 6, 8 For the shape of those who now act wickedly will be made more evil than it is now so that they shall suffer torment. […] For they will first see and then they will go away to be tormented. […] For they shall see that world which is now invisible to them, and they will see a time which is now hidden to them.
73.2–4 And then health will descend in dew, and illness will vanish, and fear and tribulation and lamentation will pass away from among men, and joy will encompass the earth. And nobody will again die untimely, nor will any adversity take place suddenly. Judgment, condemnations, contentions, revenges, blood, passions, zeal, hate, and all such things will go into condemnation since they will be uprooted.
Greek Revelation of Ezra
4.38 Then the heaven and the earth and the sea will perish.
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