What Does Revelation 21:3 Mean?
And I hear a great voice from the throne, saying, Look, the tent of God is with humankind, and he will pitch his tent among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.THE KEY
“Tabernacle” and “dwell” are forms of the same Greek tent-word, so the verse describes one shared presence, not two separate promises.
THE MEANING
This vision names a life in which God is with you, not sealed off from human life. The repeated promise of presence and belonging makes nearness and relationship one reality. That wholeness speaks now: distance is not the final truth about your life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s dwelling is permanently remote and people stand outside it: the verse pictures God with them, sharing their life.
THE ROOT
σκηνή
skēnē
GROWS FROM
σκην-
skēn-
Tent, booth, or shelter; the root carries the image of dwelling in a tent.
The Greek word translated “tabernacle” is σκηνή, and “dwell” translates σκηνώσει, a verb from the same word family. English makes them sound like separate ideas, while Greek joins the tent and the act of dwelling: God’s presence is pitched among people.
ALSO GROWS
skēnoō: To pitch a tent; to dwell.
σκηνόω
This is the verb behind “dwell” in the verse, linking God’s dwelling directly to the tabernacle image.
skēnos: A tent or temporary dwelling.
σκῆνος
In 2 Corinthians 5:1, it names the earthly tent of human life, extending the same dwelling image to our embodied condition.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly names God’s presence as shared dwelling, with belonging stated alongside it.
And I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.And what setting down together has the temple of God with images? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, "I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people."THE THREAD
And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.The word translated “dwelt” is a form of the same Greek tent-word translated “tabernacle” here. John names that dwelling among us; Revelation names its fullness as God with the people.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us