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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
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OET (OET-LV) And the twelve twelve gates were pearls, each one each of_the gates was of one pearl.
And the road of_the city was gold pure as glass transparent.
OET (OET-RV) The twelve gates were twelve pearls—each one of the gates individually was from one pearl—and the city street was pure gold—transparent like glass.
In this section, an angel showed the new Jerusalem to John. The angel again used a metaphor of a bride to describe new Jerusalem. The city was large and beautiful. God lived there with his people. His glory lighted the city. John described the city, the river that flowed through the city, and the tree that gave life. There were no bad things in the city at all.
Other examples for this section heading are:
The vision of the new Jerusalem
John saw/described the new Jerusalem as a bride for the Lamb
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each gate consisted of a single pearl.
The material/substance of each of the twelve gates was one beautiful pearl.
pearls: The word pearls refer to hard, shiny spheres found in the shellfish called oysters. They are often grayish white in color, but sometimes dark gray. The good ones are very valuable. See how you translated this word in 17:4 or 18:12.
with each gate consisting of a single pearl: The Greek clause is literally “each gate was of one pearl.” In English it is more natural to use a passive clause with the verb “make.” The topic is the gate. The topic is not who made it. Other ways to translate this clause are:
each gate was made of one pearl
The material/substance of each gate was a single pearl
The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
The main street of the city consisted of pure gold, gleaming like glass.
The material/substance of the city’s main street was pure gold. It was as bright as clear glass.
The main street of the city was pure gold: The focus here is on the street and the gold used to make it. The focus is not on who made it or on the fact that it was made. Other ways to translate this clause are:
The main street consisted of pure gold
The material/substance of the main street was pure gold
The main street: The Greek phrase is literally “the street.” The BSB and other English versions interpret this phrase as referring to the main street of the city. For example:
the great street (NIV)
as clear as glass: It is not clear as to how the gold is as clear as glass. The Greek word that the BSB translates as clear occurs only here in the New Testament. It occurs only once in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where it means “pure.”Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes” (RSV). The Hebrew word means “clean, pure.” Many English versions translate as the BSB does. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
gleaming like glass (JBP)
bright as clear glass
like transparent glass (NIV)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo
ἀνὰ εἷς ἕκαστος τῶν πυλώνων
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί οἱ δώδεκα πυλῶνες δώδεκα μαργαρῖται ἀνά εἱς ἕκαστος τῶν πυλώνων ἦν ἐξ ἑνός μαργαρίτου Καί ἡ πλατεῖα τῆς πόλεως χρυσίον καθαρόν ὡς ὕαλος διαυγής)
It might seem that this phrase contains extra information that would be unnatural to express in your language. If so, you could shorten it. Alternate translation: [each of the gates]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
χρυσίον καθαρὸν ὡς ὕαλος διαυγής.
gold (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί οἱ δώδεκα πυλῶνες δώδεκα μαργαρῖται ἀνά εἱς ἕκαστος τῶν πυλώνων ἦν ἐξ ἑνός μαργαρίτου Καί ἡ πλατεῖα τῆς πόλεως χρυσίον καθαρόν ὡς ὕαλος διαυγής)
See how you translated the similar expression in [21:18](../21/18.md). Alternate translation: [was gold that was as clear and bright as transparent glass]
OET (OET-LV) And the twelve twelve gates were pearls, each one each of_the gates was of one pearl.
And the road of_the city was gold pure as glass transparent.
OET (OET-RV) The twelve gates were twelve pearls—each one of the gates individually was from one pearl—and the city street was pure gold—transparent like glass.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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