Translation commentary on Revelation 21:16

The city lies foursquare: this is more naturally said “The city was a square,” with the following explanation: “its width and its length were the same.” In some languages one may say “all four sides were the same length” or “… were of equal length.”

He measured the city: as explained in verse 15, the picture seems to be that of the angel measuring the wall that surrounds the city.

Twelve thousand stadia: for stadia see 14.20. New Revised Standard Version, like Good News Translation, has in the text “fifteen hundred miles.” This is equal to twenty-four hundred kilometers. What seems implied, though not stated explicitly, is that each of the four sides of the wall that surrounded the city was 1,500 miles long. The city was a perfect cube, as high as it was wide and long. Some commentators point out that this measure could also apply to a structure in the form of a pyramid, but the figure of a cube seems more likely.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

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