Greek word · G4440

πυλών

pylōn

gate

Pylōn is a gateway or gate-tower, the monumental entrance of a city or large house. Polis is a city, and in Revelation specifically the New Jerusalem as opposed to Babylon.

Appears 18 times in 12 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

πυλών, -ῶνος, ὁ

(πύλη), [in LXX chiefly for פֶּתַח, שַׁעַר ;]

1. the porch or vestibule of a house or palace: Matthew 26:71, Luke 16:20, Acts 10:17 12:13-14

2. The gate-way or gate-tower of a walled town: Acts 14:13, Revelation 21:12-13, 15 21:21, 25 22:14.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Revelation 22:14

Range of meaning

Pylōn is a gateway or gate-tower, the monumental entrance of a city or large house. Polis is a city, and in Revelation specifically the New Jerusalem as opposed to Babylon.

Against the English

'By its gates' (BSB) and 'through the gates' (KJV) are both fine. The point is entering openly and legitimately.

Used elsewhere in the period

Revelation 21:12–13, 21, 25 describes twelve gates named for the tribes, each made of a single pearl and never shut. Background passages: Ezekiel 48:31–34; Isaiah 60:11; Isaiah 26:2 ('Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter'); Psalm 118:19–20 ('This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it').

From the study of Revelation 21:25

Range of meaning

A large gate or gateway: the entrance-structure of a city, temple, palace or large house, often including the gate-tower or gatehouse and the passage under it. Related to πύλη (gate), but πυλών usually means the whole gate-complex rather than just the door-leaf.

Against the English

English 'gate' can call up a garden gate or a turnstile. Ancient readers would have pictured a fortified city gateway: thick walls, towers, heavy wooden or bronze doors barred at night. It was also where elders sat, courts met and trade passed through.

How it drifted

No real drift in the word itself. The later popular image of 'pearly gates' as a checkpoint where a gatekeeper turns people away comes from other sources, not from this verse, which stresses that the gates never close.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used in the LXX for the gates of the temple and of cities (e.g., Ezek 40, in the visionary temple whose gates Revelation draws on). In the NT: the gateway of a house (Acts 12:13–14; Luke 16:20, Lazarus at the rich man's gate). In Revelation 21–22 it is used eleven times for the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem.

From the study of Luke 16:20

Range of meaning

A large gate, gateway, or covered gate-passage at the front of a large house, palace, temple or city. It is bigger than θύρα, the ordinary door.

Against the English

'Gate' (most versions) is fine but can call up a small garden gate. YLT's 'porch' catches the idea of an entrance structure.

Used elsewhere in the period

Acts 10:17 (Cornelius's house); Acts 12:13–14 (the gateway of Mary's house, where Rhoda answers); Matt 26:71 (the high priest's courtyard entrance); Rev 21:12–21 (the gates of the new Jerusalem). In the Septuagint it is used for the gates of palaces and the temple.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 26:71 πυλῶνα porch

    When Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 16:20 πυλῶνα gate

    And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores

    Here: Not a garden gate. A pylōn was the large gateway or entrance passage of a big house or estate (compare Acts 12:13–14, Matt 26:71). It marks the rich man's house as a mansion, and puts Lazarus at the threshold the rich man crossed every day.

Acts · 5

  1. Acts 10:17 πυλῶνα· gate;

    While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate.

  2. Acts 12:13 πυλῶνος gate

    He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.

  3. Acts 12:14 πυλῶνα πυλῶνος. gate, gate.

    When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”

  4. Acts 14:13 πυλῶνας gates

    The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, hoping to offer a sacrifice along with the crowds.

Revelation · 11

  1. Revelation 21:12 πυλῶνας πυλῶσιν gates

    The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.

    Here: Not only a door-leaf. A pulōn is the whole gateway structure, the gate-house or gate-tower set into the wall.

  2. Revelation 21:13 πυλῶνες πυλῶνες πυλῶνες πυλῶνες [were] gates, gates

    There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.

  3. Revelation 21:15 πυλῶνας gates

    The angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls.

    Here: Not small doors but monumental gateways, the fortified gatehouses of an ancient city. These are the twelve gates bearing the names of Israel's tribes (21:12), each made of a single pearl (21:21).

  4. Revelation 21:21 πυλῶνες πυλώνων gates [were], gates

    And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.

    Here: Not a small gate in a fence but a gateway: the large gate structure of a walled city or a great house. Each of these whole structures is said to be one pearl.

  5. Revelation 21:25 πυλῶνες gates

    Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there.

    Here: Not a small swinging gate but the large gate-complex of a walled city: the passage through the wall with its towers and doors. These are the twelve gateways of the New Jerusalem.

  6. Revelation 22:14 πυλῶσιν gates

    Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.

    Here: The great gate-towers of the New Jerusalem (21:12–13, 21, 25). To enter 'by the gates' is to come in openly and legitimately, as a citizen.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.