21:16 twelve thousand furlongs. The Greek word here is stadia, and the equivalent of 12,000 stadia is approximately 1380 miles, which is the length of each side of this gigantic cubical city (some writers have suggested that the city might be of pyramid shape, but pyramid-shaped towers—ever since Babel—have been associated with pagan idolatry, whereas the cube, beautifully suggesting the divine Trinity (see note on Romans 1:20) is the shape specified by God for the holy place in the temple (I Kings 6:20).