Revelation of John 21:18 · Bible study
Revelation 21:18 Commentary: Jasper and Pure Gold
Greek · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the jasper wall and gold-like-glass in Revelation 21:18. Unpack the symbolic meaning from Greek terms and commentators on the New Jerusalem’s nature.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The New Jerusalem is depicted with the most precious, durable, and transparent materials to symbolize its perfection, purity, and divine presence.
- Key words: endōmēsis (building material, hapax), iaspis (jasper, also appears in 4:3), chrusion katharon (pure gold), hualos katharos (pure glass).
- Main debate: Whether the description is literal (actual gold and jewels in heaven) or symbolic (pointing to spiritual realities). The supplied commentators unanimously favor the symbolic reading.
- Theological theme: The new creation combines God’s glory with the redeemed community’s holiness, culminating in a state where the highest value (gold) and total transparency (glass) coexist.
- Best use: Teaching on the nature of heaven, encouraging hope shaped by Scripture’s symbolic language, and critiquing materialistic views of the afterlife.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself of pure gold, as pure as glass.
WEB World English Bible 2000
The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass.
KJV King James Version 1769
And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And the building of the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
and the building of its wall was jasper, and the city is pure gold--like to pure glass;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And the building of its wall [was] jasper; and the city pure gold, like pure glass:
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper stone: but the city itself pure gold like to clear glass.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y el material de su muro era de jaspe: mas la ciudad era de oro puro, semejante al vidrio limpio.
E a constituição de seu muro era de jaspe; e a cidade era de ouro puro, semelhante a vidro puro.
La muraille était construite en jaspe, et la ville était d’ or pur, semblable à du verre pur.
Und der Bau ihrer Mauer war von Jaspis und die Stadt von lauterm Golde gleich dem reinen Glase.
En het gebouw van haar muur Jaspis; en de stad was zuiver goud, zijnde zuiver glas gelijk.
Il muro era costruito di diaspro e la città era d’oro puro, simile a vetro puro.
A było budowanie muru jego z jaspisu; a samo miasto było złoto czyste, podobne szkłu czystemu.
Стена его построена из ясписа, а город был чистое золото, подобен чистому стеклу.
牆 是碧玉 造的； 城 是精 金的，如同 明淨的 玻璃。
And the building of its wall was of jasper, and the town was clear gold, clear as glass.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · Revelation of John 21:18
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse uses precious materials symbolically to depict the New Jerusalem’s transcendent glory. The jasper wall represents durability and impregnableness, Clarke notes the oriental jasper is “exceedingly hard, and almost indestructible,” while Gill connects it to the brightness and lasting power of salvation. The city of pure gold like clear glass combines qualities no earthly metal possesses: transparency and purity together. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown call it “ideal gold, transparent as no gold here is,” and Barnes describes the reflection as being “like glass reflecting the sunbeams.” Gill adds that such gold signifies the saints’ freedom from sin and their clear knowledge. The Greek term endōmēsis (only here in the New Testament) emphasizes the material of which the wall is composed (Vincent). City, wall, and materials are not literal descriptions of heaven but symbols pointing to the perfected church’s stainless, glorious nature.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The verse uses the most precious materials known to describe the transcendent beauty and purity of the New Jerusalem, emphasizing that it surpasses all earthly wealth and corruption.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Literal vs. symbolic interpretation | The language is highly figurative and not meant as a literal architectural blueprint. | Some Christian readers (especially in popular piety) take the description as literal gold and gems; most commentators and historical interpreters (Clarke, Barnes, Gill, JFB) insist it is symbolic of spiritual realities. |
| What the city represents | The New Jerusalem is the dwelling place of God with his people, the final state of the redeemed. | Gill identifies the city directly with the saints (their solidity and purity), while others see it as a place or the whole new creation. All agree it involves the redeemed community. |
| Meaning of 'gold like pure glass' | This phrase highlights a supernatural quality: purity and transparency combined. | Some emphasize moral purity (the saints’ freedom from sin, Gill); others stress the visible glory of God (Barnes’s reflection image; JFB’s ideal gold). |
| Relevance of temple imagery | The cubic shape (v.16) recalls the Holy of Holies, indicating the whole city is sacred space. | Some see direct continuity with Ezekiel’s temple; others emphasize the newness: there is no temple within the city (v.22) because God himself is present. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Revelation 21 draws heavily on Old Testament temple and city imagery. Ezekiel 40, 48 describes a measured, square temple with gates and walls, providing the literary pattern for John’s vision. The New Jerusalem also echoes the high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 28:17, 20), where jasper appeared as one of the twelve stones. Jewish traditions, as Clarke cites from Sepher Rasiel Haggadol, taught that the eschatological Jerusalem would be built of precious stones and pearls. The angel’s measuring reed (v.15) recalls the architectural survey of Ezekiel, but now the measurements, 12,000 stadia for the city, 144 cubits for the wall, are cube-shaped, evoking the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle (1 Kings 6:20).
The term “building of the wall” (endōmēsis) is a rare word that means “the material built in” (Vincent), stressing the substance itself. Jasper was associated with the glory of God in Revelation 4:3, where the One seated on the throne appears “like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” So the wall of jasper connects the city’s security directly to God’s own radiant presence.
Gold in the ancient world was the ultimate measure of wealth and value. But gold “like pure glass” (or “pure gold, like pure glass,” v.18; also v.21) is a paradox: earthly gold is opaque, but this gold is transparent. The metaphor suggests a transcendence of natural limitations, a material that combines the highest worth with total clarity. Barnes compared it to sunlight reflecting off thousands of panes of glass, giving the appearance of burnished gold. The effect is a city that is both utterly valuable and perfectly luminous, with nothing hidden.
Early readers steeped in apocalyptic symbolism understood these images as visions of spiritual realities rather than architectural blueprints. Clarke warned against “injudiciously applied” literalism, insisting that gold and jewels “can have no place in the spiritual and eternal world.” The imagery invites awe, not measurement.
Textual Notes
The Greek text of Revelation 21:18 is stable across the major manuscripts. The main variant is in the phrase describing the city: the Alexandrian text (and Vulgate) reads “the city was pure gold, like pure glass,” while some witnesses focus the comparison on the gold itself; the difference is minimal in meaning. The NT hapax endōmēsis (“building,” “structure”) is consistently attested. The consulted sources note no significant variants that affect interpretation.
Reception History
From the early centuries, this verse was read as a symbolic vision of the church’s final glory. Augustine (City of God) used the New Jerusalem as a type of the redeemed society. In the Middle Ages, the imagery of a golden, jeweled city shaped hymns such as “Urbs beata Jerusalem” and the later “Jerusalem the Golden” (12th century), which drew on Revelation 21 for its language of jasper and gold. Bernard of Cluny’s poem “The Celestial Country” (12th century) echoes the transparent beauty of the city. During the Reformation, commentators like John Calvin interpreted the passage not as a physical description of a place but as a portrayal of the perfected church. In the 19th century, Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes explicitly warned against literal readings, arguing that such descriptions “have no place in the spiritual and eternal world” (Clarke). The verse continues to comfort believers with the promise of a reality more beautiful than anything earth can yield.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The jasper wall: security and divine presence. Jasper is hard, durable, and in Revelation 4:3 it is the stone of God’s throne. The wall’s material assures the city’s citizens of absolute safety and connects their refuge to God’s own glory.
- Gold like clear glass: purity and transparency. Earthly gold is heavy and opaque, but this gold is light and see-through. It suggests a redeemed community where no sin, no secret, no shadow remains, everything is open and pure.
- Combined excellencies: what cannot exist now. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown say this combines “excellencies…which now seem incompatible.” The new creation will blend strength with vulnerability (transparent wall?), radiance with solidity, a perfect harmony beyond our imagination.
Five-point outline
- Jasper wall: represents the durability of salvation (Gill) and the unsurpassed beauty of God’s presence.
- Pure gold: signifies the immense value of the redeemed and the kingdom (Gill: “solidity, excellency, and preciousness of them”).
- Like pure glass: adds the dimension of transparency, complete honesty, no corruption, clear vision of God (see Rev 21:11; 22:4).
- The city as a whole: a cube (v.16), like the Holy of Holies, indicating that the entire city is now a sanctuary (v.22).
- The impact on hope: these images lift our eyes from earthly treasures to a glory that surpasses all we know.
Illustration hooks
- A stained-glass window in an old church: from outside it looks dull, but when the sun shines through, it blazes with color and shows scenes you could not see before. The New Jerusalem is like that, its beauty is not surface-level but luminous from within.
- A jeweler refining gold until it becomes a mirror: but city gold is even more remarkable, transparent. Imagine a gold that you can see through, combining the most precious substance with total clarity.
- The Crystal Palace in London (Barnes’s comparison): a vast structure of glass and iron that appeared ethereal and radiant in sunlight. The new city will be even more breathtaking, but unlike that temporary building, it will last forever.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Is heaven actually made of gold and jewels? Should I picture literal streets of gold?”
- “If the city is made of transparent gold, does that mean there’s no privacy in heaven?”
- “How does this description help me when life right now feels dark and fragile?”
Leading a Discussion
This verse paints a picture of ultimate beauty and security. The group’s goal is to move from the images to the hope they offer for our lives now. Read Revelation 21:18 together, along with verses 11 and 21. Ask each person to describe what they think the city “looks like” before discussing the symbolism.
Discussion questions
- What is the wall made of? What do we learn about jasper from Revelation 4:3 and 21:19?
- Why do you think John says the gold is “like pure glass”? What quality does transparency add to the description?
- Barnes calls this “ideal gold” that cannot be taken literally. How does recognizing the symbolic nature change the way you understand this passage?
- Gill interprets the gold as representing the saints themselves, their purity and solid faith. What would it mean if the city’s materials point to God’s people rather than to a physical place?
- How does the combination of jasper (strength) and transparent gold (vulnerability, openness) challenge our ideas about security?
- This city has no temple (v.22) because God and the Lamb fill it. How does the material description (jasper, gold, glass) point to God’s own presence?
- If this is what awaits us, how should it shape our priorities today, especially our attachment to wealth, reputation, or hiding our faults?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Revelation of John 21:11 | having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; |
| Revelation of John 21:19 | The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, |
| Revelation of John 21:21 | The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke cautions against taking these descriptions of gold and jewels literally as the actual materials of heaven. He argues that such physical treasures have no place in the spiritual eternal world, and reading them as literal facts can foster an unhealthy attachment to earthly wealth. For him, these are proper symbols, not intended as literal realities.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes insists the description cannot be taken literally; it is a symbolic picture of overwhelming radiance. He suggests a city made entirely of glass reflecting the setting sun, and points to the Crystal Palace in London as the closest earthly parallel to combine the ideas of gold and transparent brightness.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
And the citie laie foure square, and the length is as large as the bredth of it, and he measured the citie with the reede, twelue thousande furlongs: and the length, and the bredth, and the height of it are equall.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads the jasper wall as picturing salvation's durable, lasting, bright glory—impossible to break or fade. The gold city like clear glass represents the saints themselves in their final state: solid, precious, utterly pure, and completely open, with nothing hidden or tarnished ever again.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB points out that the gold in the heavenly city is transparent, unlike any gold on earth. He sees this as a deliberate paradox: the New Jerusalem combines qualities we consider incompatible, showing that God's perfect order joins excellences we cannot now imagine together.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees the vision of the New Jerusalem as a threefold picture: the perfected theocracy, the gathering of believing nations, and the restoration of all nature in a new Paradise. For him, the river of life flowing from God's throne and the trees bearing fruit month by month show that the first Paradise is not just regained but infinitely surpassed. The whole scene is the consummation of every Old Testament promise and type.
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent highlights two rare Greek words in this passage. The word for "building" or "structure" (ενδομησις) appears only here in the New Testament and refers to the material built into the wall itself. The word for "glass" (υαλω) is also rare, appearing only here and in a nearby verse.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley draws a sharp distinction between two parts of the heavenly city: the wall is built of jasper, but the city itself, including its houses, is made of pure gold. The point is that the materials differ, not that the whole is one substance.