Revelation 21:14-16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
14 The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve apostles[a] of the Lamb.(A)
15 [b]The one who spoke to me held a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city was square, its length the same as [also] its width. He measured the city with the rod and found it fifteen hundred miles[c] in length and width and height.
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- 21:14 Courses of stones…apostles: literally, “twelve foundations”; cf. Eph 2:19–20.
- 21:15–17 The city is shaped like a gigantic cube, a symbol of perfection (cf. 1 Kgs 6:19–20). The measurements of the city and its wall are multiples of the symbolic number twelve; see note on Rev 7:4–9.
- 21:16 Fifteen hundred miles: literally, twelve thousand stades, about 12,000 furlongs (see note on Rev 14:20); the number is symbolic: twelve (the apostles as leaders of the new Israel) multiplied by 1,000 (the immensity of Christians); cf. Introduction. In length and width and height: literally, “its length and width and height are the same.”
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