New Jerusalem Text

The New Jerusalem Text

[An Aramaic vision in which a heavenly guide measures the city and temple of the age to come; preserved only in fragments, with many measures lost.]

And he led me into the city, and measured it. [Text missing] Its blocks were laid out by line, street upon street; and he measured each street with the measuring reed: the width of every street, six reeds; and the great streets, broader still.

And he showed me the houses, built in rows; and the gates of the city, three on each side, twelve gates in all, and each gate inscribed with a name of the tribes of Israel. [Line damaged] He measured the gate, and the wall, and the towers between the gates.

Then he brought me to the temple, and measured its courts and its chambers, and the place of the altar, and the steps. [Text missing] And he showed me the order of the priests at the offering — the bread set out, the portions, the blessing — and the garments of the priests, and the manner of their service.

All this he measured and made known, that it might be written, against the day when these things should be. [Meaning uncertain]

[Fragment breaks here]