Revelation 21:3

καὶ ἤκ.… λεγούσης. א* καὶ φωνὴ μεγάλη ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου λέγουσα.

οὐρανοῦ. So Text. Rec[785] with B2P Aug. ap. Primas[786]; Lach[787] Tisch[788] W. H[789] Weiss read θρόνου with אA. Iren[790]gr[791] omits both.

[785] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.
[786] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.
[787] Lachmann’s larger edition.
[788] Tischendorf: eighth edition; where the text aud notes differ the latter are cited.
[789] H. Westcott aud Hort.
[790] St Irenaeus where the Greek is extant.
[791] St Irenaeus where the Greek is extant.

σκηνώσει. א* has ἐσκήνωσεν, am[792] habitavit, Lips[793][794] habitabat.

[792] Codex Amiatinus 6th century in Laurentian Library at Florence.
[793] MSS. of Revelation at Leipzig collated by Matthiae.
[794] MSS. of Revelation at Leipzig collated by Matthiae.

λαοί. Tisch[795]7 reads λαὸς with B2P and versions.

[795] Tischendorf: eighth edition; where the text aud notes differ the latter are cited.

3. ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ θεοῦ, i.e. the Shechinah, the Divine Presence; see on Revelation 7:15. So in the next words.

σκηνώσει μετʼ αὐτῶν. Cf. St John 1:14 ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν.

λαοί. The word is a plural: “peoples,” though used in modern English, at least as a Gallicism, is scarcely (see however Revelation 10:11; Revelation 17:15) admitted in the English of the A. V[854] It would not do to translate “His nations,” for in Hellenistic language, representing O.T. usage, “the nations” means Gentiles, and “the people” Israel. Here therefore the use of this word in the pl. has a special significance: all nations shall be God’s people, in the sense that one nation only has been hitherto.

[854] Authorised Version.

ἔσται μετʼ αὐτῶν. If we add αὐτῶν θεὸς with A and vg[855] it is simple to translate “and be their God” as in A. V[856] In spite of the order it is also possible to render “God Himself, their own God, shall be with them”—something like Psalms 67:6. There may be a reminiscence of the name Immanuel: there certainly is of Jeremiah 24:7 &c.; Ezekiel 11:20 &c.; Zechariah 8:8, whether on St John’s part or only on that of his copyists.

[855] Vulgate.
[856] Authorised Version.