Revelation 8:6-12
New Catholic Bible
6 The seven angels who held the seven trumpets now made ready to blow them.
The First Four Trumpets.[a] 7 When the first angel blew his trumpet, there was a storm of hail and fire, mixed with blood, and it fell upon the earth.[b] A third of the earth was burned up, as well as a third of the trees and all the green grass.
8 [c]When the second angel blew his trumpet, something that looked like a huge mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 When the third angel blew his trumpet, a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It came down on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 This star was called “Wormwood,” and a third of the waters turned to wormwood.[d] Great numbers of people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12 When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars. As a result, a third of their light was darkened, and the day lost its illumination for a third of the time, and so did the night.[e]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Revelation 8:7 The earth, sea, streams, sources, and stars—everything is disfigured. The universe becomes chaos and lays itself waste. The author amplifies images taken from the Book of Exodus (chs. 7–10).
- Revelation 8:7 See the seventh plague of Egypt (Ex 9:23f) and Joel 3:3.
- Revelation 8:8 See the first plague of Egypt (Ex 7:20f).
- Revelation 8:11 Wormwood: a bitter-tasting plant that is a metaphor for calamity, sorrow, and death (see Prov 5:3f; Jer 9:15; Lam 3:19).
- Revelation 8:12 See the darkness that occurred for three days during the ninth plague of Egypt (Ex 10:21-23).