let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ¹  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ²  and our bodies washed in pure water.

And the twelve gates are twelve pearls – each one of the gates is made from just one pearl! The ¹  main street ²  of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.

Now ¹  while Jesus ²  was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table, ³  a woman came with an alabaster jar ⁴  of costly aromatic oil ⁵  from pure nard. After breaking open the jar, she poured it on his head.

Then Mary took three quarters of a pound ¹  of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard ²  and anointed the feet of Jesus. She ³  then wiped his feet dry with her hair. (Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.) ⁴ 

For our reason for confidence ¹  is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives ²  and sincerity which are from God ³  – not by human wisdom ⁴  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more ⁵  toward you.