complete verse (Revelation 21:25)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 21:25:

  • Uma: “The doors of the village were open continually all day long, there was never any time they were shut [lit., there was not its being shut], because there was no longer any night.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The doors of that city are open all day long. They are never closed because there will be no night there.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The gates of the city are never closed at any time, because when it’s daytime they are open and there is no night there.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “All the entrances of the town are always open, because they are-never -closed in the daytime and it absolutely never becomes-night.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The gates of this city are always open because it won’t become night/dark any more there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The gates of the city are open all the day. For there is no night there.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 21:25

Its gates shall never be shut by day: this says only that the gates stay open all day long. But in light of what follows, and there shall be no night there, it is clear that the text means the gates will stay open all the time, twenty-four hours a day (see Isa 60.11), because in the new Jerusalem there will be no nighttime, when city gates are closed. There will be light a full twenty-four hours every day.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Revelation 21:25

21:25a–b

Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there: Here the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as day refers to the hours of daylight. There will be no night, so the gates of the city wall will always be open. Other ways to translate these words are:

In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
The gates of the city will stand open all day; they will never be closed, because there will be no night there (Good News Translation)

21:25b

because: This conjunction introduces the reason or explanation for the gates never being shut.

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