Observations About Revelation 21:22

Greek Text: καὶ ναὸν οὐκ εἶδον ἐν αὐτῇ· ὁ γὰρ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ναὸς αὐτῆς ἐστὶν καὶ τὸ ἀρνίον. (THGNT)

καὶ εἶδον is a stock formula in Revelation, but here, John employs οὐκ with the direct object ναὸν, which is accusative masculine singular: "And I did not see a temple"

"Now I saw no temple in the city" (NET Bible)

Translation Notes for NET, Rev. 21:22:

tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Every verse from here to the end of this chapter begins with καί in Greek, but due to differences between Greek and contemporary English style, these have not been translated.

tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π.…Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

From D. Aune:

This explicit and surprising denial of the presence of a temple within the New Jerusalem suggests that the traditions with which John was familiar expected to have an eschatological temple as the center of the eschatological Jerusalem, for οὐκ εἶδον, “I did not see,” implies “I expected to see but did not.” One important issue is whether this extremely unusual view is possible only within early Christianity, or is it a view compatible with the apocalyptic outlook of segments of early Judaism? It is possible to regard the absence of the eschatological temple in this vision as part of an anti-temple and anti-priestly polemic that existed in various segments of early Judaism, though certainly the expectation of an eschatological temple would be the normal expectation of Jewish eschatology.

Aune, Dr. David. Revelation 17-22, Volume 52C (Word Biblical Commentary) (p. 1242). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

αὐτῇ is dative feminine singular of αὐτός, but usually rendered "it" rather than "her" in Rev. 21:22: That is, there was no temple "in it" (the city of New Jerusalem).

Heinrich Meyer:

They, therefore, need not the light of sun and moon; for[4355] the δόξα of God and the Lamb itself fill them with light.[4356] Here where, indeed, the description implies that the δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ corresponds to the sun, and that of the Lamb to the moon,[4357] it does not follow that the same distinction is made also in Revelation 21:11,[4358] because there it is only a φωστήρ that is mentioned, viz., the δόξα τ. θ. appears as φωστήρ, because it φωτίζωι (Revelation 21:23).