a wall (as formative of a house) · noun — nominative singular neuter
city
πόλεωςpoleōs
G4172
a town (properly · noun — genitive singular feminine
had
ἔχωνechōn
G2192
to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
twelve
δώδεκαdōdeka
G1427
two and ten · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
foundations
θεμελίουςthemelious
G2310
something put down · noun — accusative plural masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in
them
αὐτῶνautōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
names
ὀνόματαonomata
G3686
a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority · noun — accusative plural neuter
twelve
δώδεκαdōdeka
G1427
two and ten · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
apostles
ἀποστόλωνapostolōn
G652
a delegate · noun — genitive plural masculine
Lamb
ἀρνίου.¶arniou
G721
a lambkin · noun — genitive singular neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Hebrews 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Isaiah 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapp…
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…
Revelation 21:19-21 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second,…
Matthew 10:2-4 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and…
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But…
Ephesians 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 21:9–end
We have already considered the introduction to the vision of the new Jerusalem in a more general idea of the heavenly state; we now come to the vision itself, where observe,
I. The person that opened the vision to the apostle - one of the seven angels, that had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, Rev 21:9. God has a variety of work and employment for his holy angels. Sometimes they are to sound the trumpet of divine Providence, and give fair warning to a careless world; sometimes they are to pour out the vials of God's anger upon impenitent sinners; and sometimes to discover things of a heavenly nature to those that are the heirs of salvation. They readily execute every commissio…
twelve foundations--Joshua, the type of Jesus, chose twelve men out of the people, to carry twelve stones over the Jordan with them, as Jesus chose twelve apostles to be the twelve foundations of the heavenly city, of which He is Himself the Chief corner-stone. Peter is not the only apostolic rock on whose preaching Christ builds His Church. Christ Himself is the true foundation: the twelve are foundations only in regard to their apostolic testimony concerning Him. Though Paul was an apostle besides the twelve, yet the mystical number is retained, twelve representing the Church, namely thirty the divine number, multiplied by four, the world number.
in them the names, &c.--As architects oft…
The wall - had twelve foundations - Probably twelve stones, one of which served for a foundation or threshold to each gate; and on these were inscribed the names of the twelve apostles, to intimate that it was by the doctrine of the apostles that souls enter into the Church, and thence into the New Jerusalem.
John Gill on Revelation 21:14
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations,.... Christ is the one and only foundation of his church and people, of the covenant of grace, and of salvation; and of faith, hope, peace, and joy, and of eternal happiness, and so of this glorious state of the church; he will be the light and temple of it, the glory and safety of it; he will be all in all in it; but because he has been ministerially laid as the foundation, by the twelve apostles, for men to build their present and future happiness upon, therefore the foundations of the wall of salvation are said to be twelve; see Ephesians 2:20. Moreover, this may denote the firm and immovable state of the church at this time, it being a city…
The Church Fathers
The foundations of the wall are the blessed apostles, upon whom the church of Christ has been established. Their names have been inscribed upon them, as upon a public placard, for the easy instruction of those who read them.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, etc. What the gates are, the foundations are; what the city is, the wall is. The patriarchs can also be designated by the term foundations, who held the names, that is, the figures, of the apostles in themselves. For through them, this city has foundations, even though it was opened to the nations through the apostles as through gates. It should be noted that when foundations are mentioned in the plural, they signify the teachers or virtues of the Church, but when singularly, they signify the Lord himself, who is the foundation of foundations.
And the wall of the city, he says, had twelve foundations; for Christ, whom we have thought of as a wall, rests upon the preaching of the apostles, and upon them has gone forth as a "chief cornerstone," (1 Peter 2:6; Isa. 28:16; Eph. 2:20) as it is written. And upon them, that is, upon those foundations, are twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. He has barely revealed the riddle, plainly saying that he calls the apostles the gates and foundations of the holy city of the church; by whose teaching may we all abide, turning away from the profane babblings of the false knowledge of heretics; by the grace of Christ our teacher and chief shepherd; to whom be glory forever. Amen.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Wall — Cities were surrounded by walls, as distinguished from “unwalled villages” (Ezek. 38:11; Lev. 25:29-34). They were made thick and strong (Num. 13:28; Deut. 3:5). Among the Jews walls were built of…
Cities · Built: On solid foundations — Built: On solid foundations
Foundation · Laid for: Walls — Laid for: Walls
House · 3:11; — 3:11;
Jerusalem · NEW — NEW
Lamb Of God · An name of Jesus — An name of Jesus
Walls, Of The Cities · .Of the new — .Of the new
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
In this vision, the twelve tribes of Israel represent the redeemed people of God (see 7:4-8; see also Rom 9:6-7). The foundation for this community of God’s redeemed is the twelve apostles of the Lamb. In Jesus, God’s promise to bless all of the families of the earth through Abraham has been fully realized (Gen 12:3).
