Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
4
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no
more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6
Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
7
Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
8
But as for the cowardly, the faithless,
*
the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
9
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10
And in the spirit
*
he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
11
It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.
12
It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites;
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 has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
A HOLY CITY WITHOUT A HOLY TEMPLE
How can the eschatological city lack a physical temple (21.22)? Given the apparent inextricability of temple space and divine presence in biblical tradition (Ps 24; 84; Ex 15.17–18), it is no surprise that texts from Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah to
Enoch
and the Dead Sea Scrolls all imagined a great, eternal temple as the centerpiece of God’s new creation (Isa 66.20; Ezek 40–48;
1 En
. 90.28–29;
Jub
. 1.27–28; 11QTemple). In deliberately noting its absence, John seems to specify that such a structure will not exist. Is he reflecting on the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE, that God thus indicated such a structure to be an anachronism? Or, as Christian interpreters have been fond of suggesting, does John mean that with Christ’s death the Temple, its barriers and priestly privileges, were superfluous obstacles to the divine presence (cf. Mk 15.38)?
But much like Ezekiel’s eschatological temple, John’s holy city stringently excludes all impurities (21.27; 22.3,15); and its holiness is manifest in its divisions and gates (21.12–21) as much as the light and presence of God and Lamb (21.11,22–23; 22.5). Indeed, when we read these two details in light of Ezekiel and the Temple Scroll from Qumran, both of which imagined temples (or temple rules) covering virtually the entirety of their eschatological cities, it seems clear that the boundaries of John’s holy city constitute the perfection that allows the divine presence to dwell. In fact, as surprised as John claims to be in a temple’s absence, the infrastructure of the eschatological Jerusalem was a topic of quite diverse thinking in apocalyptic literature: from meticulous reestablishments of temple cult (Ezekiel; 11QTemple; cf.
2 Bar
. 6.7–9), to far more abstract notions of a space for God’s eternal dwelling (
4 Ezra
10.27, 44–54;
T. Benj
. 9.2;
T. Levi
18; cf. 2 Macc 5.19). Indeed, even in the Psalms YHWH is celebrated as dwelling in a city or a mountain, not just a physical sanctuary (Ps 48; 87; cf. Jer 3.16–17). Thus John’s combined interests in purity, architecture, and divine presence can be situated easily in this continuum of Jewish ideas.
15
The angel
*
who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.
16
The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles;
*
its length and width and height are equal.
17
He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits
*
by human measurement, which the angel was using.
18
The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass.
19
The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
20
the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
22
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
23
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
25
Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
26
People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
27
But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
22
Then the angel
*
showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2
through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life
*
with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3
Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants
*
will worship him;
4
they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5
And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
6
And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants
*
what must soon take place.”
7
“See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me;
9
but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant
*
with you and your comrades
*
the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
10
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.
11
Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12
“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.
13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14
Blessed are those who wash their robes,
*
so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.
15
Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16
“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of
life as a gift.
18
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book;
19
if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20
The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.
*
Essays
Tables
Glossary
Index
BEARING FALSE WITNESS
COMMON ERRORS MADE ABOUT EARLY JUDAISM
Amy-Jill Levine
There are numerous Church guidelines on how to present Jews and Judaism (e.g., Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, “Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church” [1985]; National Conference of Catholic Bishops, “God’s Mercy Endures Forever: Guidelines on the Presentation of Jews and Judaism in Catholic Preaching” [1988]; General Convention of the Episcopal Church, “Guidelines for Christian-Jewish Relations” [1988]; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations” [1988]). However, out of ignorance many pastors and religious educators strip Jesus from his Jewish context and depict that context in false and noxious stereotypes. This volume represents an effort to redress this significant problem.
There are five major reasons for this problem. First, most Christian seminaries and divinity schools do not offer detailed education about Judaism, whether at the time of Jesus or subsequently. The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the accrediting organization for these institutions, does not as of 2011 recommend that candidates studying for the Christian ministry receive formal instruction in how to avoid anti-Jewish preaching and teaching.
Second, whereas a number of churches have guidelines on the presentation of Jews and Judaism, not all clergy know the guidelines. Even clergy who receive some education about Judaism need refresher courses: people forget what they have learned in graduate and professional schools, and these understandings change as research progresses. But too few church bodies sponsor continuing education programs on Judaism, on Jewish-Christian relations, and specifically on anti-Jewish biblical interpretation, and too few clergy attend the programs that are offered.