complete verse (Revelation 21:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 21:16:

  • Uma: “That village had four sides. Its length and its width were the same. He measured the village with his measuring stick: its length was two thousand four hundred kilometers. Its width and height were the same as its length.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “That city is four-cornered, its length and width is the same. The angel measured the city with his measure; it was two thousand and four hundred kilometers long. Its width and height was the same.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for that city, the measurement of its width was the same as the measurement of its length, and it was made square. The angel measured the city, and it was two thousand four hundred kilometers long. Its width and the height were also the same.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The town was square its length and its width being equal. When the angel measured it, its length and its width and likewise its height were two thousand four hundred kilometers.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That city was square. How ever much was its length, that indeed was its breadth. Well that angel measured the city. About two thousand four hundred kilumitru was the length of each side. Like that too was its height.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “This city then had four corners and all four sides were the same. The angel measured the city with the stick he had. The measurement came out to be two thousand and two hundred kilometer in length. All four sides were the same length. Also the same was the height of the houses.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 21:16

The city lies foursquare: this is more naturally said “The city was a square,” with the following explanation: “its width and its length were the same.” In some languages one may say “all four sides were the same length” or “… were of equal length.”

He measured the city: as explained in verse 15, the picture seems to be that of the angel measuring the wall that surrounds the city.

Twelve thousand stadia: for stadia see 14.20. New Revised Standard Version, like Good News Translation, has in the text “fifteen hundred miles.” This is equal to twenty-four hundred kilometers. What seems implied, though not stated explicitly, is that each of the four sides of the wall that surrounded the city was 1,500 miles long. The city was a perfect cube, as high as it was wide and long. Some commentators point out that this measure could also apply to a structure in the form of a pyramid, but the figure of a cube seems more likely.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .