Revelation
Revelation 8
1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, then threw it on the earth. Thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake followed.
6The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8The second angel sounded, and something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood, 9and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters. 11The name of the star is called “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
12The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way. 13I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe for those who dwell on the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!”
Commentary
No commentary on this chapter yet.
What others are saying
4 commentators · 40 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
In these verses we have the prelude to the sounding of the trumpets in several parts. I. The opening of the last seal. This was to introduce a new set of prophetical iconisms and events; there is a continued chain of providence, one part linked to another…
Observe, I. The first angel sounded the first trumpet, and the events which followed were very dismal: There followed hail and fire mingled with blood, etc., Rev 8:7. There was a terrible storm; but whether it is to be understood of a storm of heresies, a…
John Gill13
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And when he had opened the seventh seal,.... That is, when the Lamb had opened the seventh and last seal of the scaled book: there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour; not in the third heaven, the seat of the divine Being, of angels and…
And I saw the seven angels,.... Not the seven spirits of God, Revelation 1:4; their names, as well as their office, differ; nor the ministers of the word, though these are often called angels in this book, and blow the trumpet of the Gospel, and lift up their…
And another angel came,.... The Ethiopic version adds, "from the east", as in Revelation 7:2; pointing to the same angel, and who is intended: for not a created angel, as Gabriel, or any other, is meant; nor any mere man, at least not Pope Damasus, who lived…
Adam Clarke13
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
The seventh seal - This is ushered in and opened only by the Lamb. Silence in heaven - This must be a mere metaphor, silence being put here for the deep and solemn expectation of the stupendous things about to take place, which the opening of this seal had…
The seven angels which stood before God - Probably the same as those called the seven Spirits which are before his throne, Rev 1:4 (note). There is still an allusion here to the seven ministers of the Persian monarchs. See Tobit 12:15.
Another angel - About to perform the office of priest. Having a golden censer - This was a preparation peculiar to the day of expiation. "On other days it was the custom of the priest to take fire from the great altar in a silver censer, but on the day of…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown12
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
the seven angels--Compare the apocryphal Tobit 12:15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." Compare Luk 1:19, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence…
another angel--not Christ, as many think; for He, in Revelation, is always designated by one of His proper titles; though, doubtless, He is the only true High Priest, the Angel of the Covenant, standing before the golden altar of incense, and there, as…
the smoke . . . which came with the prayers . . . ascended up--rather, "the smoke of the incense FOR (or 'given TO': 'given' being understood from Rev 8:3) the prayers of the saints ascended up, out of the angel's hand, in the presence of Gods" The angel…
World English Bible — Public domain