Loading the studies…

Revelation 8

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The seventh seal and the golden altar

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before Elohim, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Then another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before Elohim from the angel's hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake.

The first four trumpets

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7 The first sounded: and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel sounded: and something like a great mountain, burning, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the creatures in the sea, those that had life, died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 Then the third angel sounded: and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. 11 The name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. 12 Then the fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them would be darkened, and the day would not shine for a third of it, and likewise the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"

Notes

  • 8:2 "Trumpet" (salpinx) is the word the Greek Scriptures use both for the shofar and for the silver trumpets of the Torah, which were blown in war and over the offerings "for a memorial before your Elohim" (Numbers 10:10). Many readers recall Jericho, where seven priests carried seven shofars before the ark (Joshua 6:4). The trumpets that follow announce judgments, but also call people to repent (9:20-21).
  • 8:4 The scene follows the Temple service. Each morning and evening a priest burned incense on the golden altar before the veil (Exodus 30:7-8), and "the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense" (Luke 1:10). David prayed, "Let my prayer be set before You as incense" (Psalm 141:2). Here the prayers of the saints rise before Elohim, and the judgments that follow come as His answer to them (compare 6:10).
  • 8:7 The trumpets echo the plagues of Egypt before the Exodus: hail and fire, as when "there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail" (Exodus 9:24); water turned to blood (Exodus 7:20); darkness (Exodus 10:22); and locusts (Exodus 10:14). Many readers see in them a new Exodus, in which Elohim judges the oppressor and delivers His people. Here the Majority Text, which the TRB follows, includes "a third of the earth was burned up," which some older Bibles (KJV, RVR) lack.
  • 8:11 Wormwood (apsinthos) is a bitter plant, and in the Prophets it pictures the bitterness of judgment: "See, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink" (Jeremiah 9:15). In the wilderness Elohim once made the bitter water of Marah sweet (Exodus 15:23-25); here sweet water is made bitter.
  • 8:13 The Majority Text, with most modern Bibles, reads "an eagle"; some older Bibles (KJV, RVR) read "an angel," following other manuscripts. Hosea joins the same two pictures: "Put the shofar to your lips! Like an eagle he comes against the house of Yahweh" (Hosea 8:1). The three woes are the three trumpets still to come (9:12; 11:14).

Revelation 7 · Revelation 9

Open in the study app