Passage

Revelation 21.1

Book: Revelation · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more."

"2. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God:" (Revelation 21:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more."

"2. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God." (Revelation 21:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea."

"2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." (Revelation 21:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any more;"

"2. and I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of the heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband; 3. and I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, 'Lo, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, their God," (Revelation 21:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: John the Apostle (traditionally) / John of Patmos + Jesus's direct discourse (in the visions)
Audience: seven churches of Asia Minor + future Christian believers
Location: Patmos (composition); visions span heaven + earth + new creation
Time period: composed c. AD 95 (Domitianic dating, most common) or c. AD 65-68 (Neronic dating, minority)

Theological reading

Key words

No Strong's-tagged lexicon matches found in this passage. (Lexicon coverage is curated, ~159 of the most apologetically-loaded Greek/Hebrew terms.)

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.