And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each: and every several gate was of one several pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Glossa Ordinaria
And twelve gates. As if he said: I have said that there are twelve gates, and since those twelve gates are so, that is, the prophets leading in to the faith of the Trinity out of the four parts of the world. Through each one, that is, through the instruction of individuals; they are pearls, that is, their imitators, who, from whatever part of the world they be called to the faith of the Trinity, are splendid in virtues. Each of the gates, etc. As if he said: In order that they might be gates, it was necessary that there be pearls. The streets of the city gold. That is, full of wisdom, or of brightness, clean from criminal stain. Glass, transparent. That is, hiding no filth in themselves. Or because the wicked can recognize their own wickedness in the works, as in a mirror.
English is machine-translated from the public-domain Latin (Glossa Ordinaria, Migne, Patrologia Latina 113-114, 1852; digital text from Corpus Corporum, mlat.uzh.ch), since no public-domain English translation exists. It is not a scholarly translation. Please report errors.