Revelation 21:3

A Voice from Heaven of Blessing and Judgement, Revelation 21:3-8

3. out of heaven Read, out of the Throne; cf. Revelation 19:5.

the tabernacle of God i.e. the Shechinah, the divine Presence, see on Revelation 7:15. So in the next words,

he will dwell with them Lit., have His tabernacle with them, the verb being the same as in St John's Gospel John 1:14; though the prepositions "among" and "with" are different.

his people 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. 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 plural has a special significance: allnations shall be God's people, in the sense that one nation only has been hitherto.

(and be) their God There is considerable authority for the omission of this clause. If it be retained, it is a question of taste whether to insert the words in brackets, or 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.