---
title: Revelation 22:3
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-22-3/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-22-3.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 22:3
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 22:3

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his slaves will offer him sacred service"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary stresses that Revelation 22:3 has the servants rendering "sacred service" rather than "worship," and reads the singular pronoun "him" as referring to the Father alone — Jehovah being the proper recipient of latreia, with the Lamb sharing the throne but not the worship.

## Protestant Usage

The grammar of v3 is decisive. The throne is shared by God and the Lamb (singular throne, two seated). The pronoun "him" (singular) takes both as its antecedent. The verb latreuō is the worship-verb reserved in the Septuagint for service rendered exclusively to God (Deuteronomy 6:13, Matthew 4:10). One throne, one act of latreia, two persons jointly receiving it. This is the same Christological pattern Revelation 5:13-14 already established: "to the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb" receive identical praise from every creature. The Lamb is not honoured alongside God; he is jointly worshipped with God on the same throne, by the same servants, with the same verb.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders latreusousin autō as "will offer him sacred service"; consensus reads "will worship him" (ESV/NASB/NIV; KJV "serve him"). The NWT systematically translates latreuō as "render sacred service" rather than "worship," which obscures the Christological force of latreia being directed jointly to God and the Lamb on a single throne. "Slaves" for douloi continues the servant-flattening. Together the renderings soften the joint-worship implication that the Greek text and the parallel with Revelation 5:13-14 sharpen.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus Receives Worship](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/worship-of-jesus.md) — Hebrews 1:6 / Revelation 5:13–14 / Daniel 7:13–14 [Deity of Christ]
- [Heaven Is the Presence of God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/heaven-is-presence-of-god.md) — Not a Gated Destination for 144,000 — Wherever God Is, Heaven Is [Salvation]
- [David's Son, David's Lord](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm-110-my-lord.md) — Psalm 110:1 / Matthew 22:41-46 — the question Jesus asked that nobody could answer [Deity of Christ]