Bible Strands
Revelation 21:10
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — An angel addresses John immediately after identifying the bride in Revelation 21:9. The vision occurs at a moment when John is supernaturally relocated to observe the descending city.
The words — ἀπὴνεγκέν (apēnegken) translates literally as "he carried away," and πνεύματι (pneumati) means "Spirit." These terms specify the agent and mechanism of John's transport to a high mountain.
The thread — The pattern of Spirit-driven transport to a high place for revelation appears in Ezekiel 8:3 and Ezekiel 11:24. John's description of the city descending from heaven directly parallels the language of Revelation 21:2.
Why it lands — The text states that God's agent moves John to a high place to reveal the city, establishing divine initiative over human observation. It requires the reader to acknowledge that understanding God's purposes depends entirely on His sovereign action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Cross-references
- Revelation 21:2 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
- Ezekiel 11:24 And the Spirit lifted me up and carried me back to Chaldea, to the exiles in the vision given by the Spirit of God. After the vision had gone up from me,
- Ezekiel 8:3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.
- Ezekiel 11:1 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, who were leaders of the people.
- Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.
- Acts 8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.
- 2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.
- Revelation 1:10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
- Revelation 17:3 And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
- Ezekiel 3:14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.