Revelation 16

Then I heard a loud voice come from the temple. It said to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls that hold God's anger."

1And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

NoteA "vial" in 1611 was not a narrow tube but a wide, shallow bowl, the kind used in temple ritual to tip out its whole contents in one motion. The Greek word names that same broad dish, which is why modern versions say "bowls." The "temple" here is the heavenly sanctuary John has been describing, not a building in Jerusalem.

2So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth. Ugly, painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its statue.

2And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Note"Noisome" has nothing to do with noise. In 1611 it meant harmful or loathsome, from the same root as "annoy," and "grievous" meant severe. The mark and the image refer back to chapter 13, where people are marked on the hand or forehead to show whose side they are on, and a statue of the beast is set up to be worshiped.

3The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. The sea turned into blood like the blood of a dead body, and every living thing in the sea died.

3And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Note"Every living soul" does not mean human beings. "Soul" here translates a Greek word used of any living creature, so the sense is every living thing in the sea. "As the blood of a dead man" points to blood that has congealed and gone foul rather than fresh blood.

4The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood.

4And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

NoteA "fountain" in 1611 English meant a natural spring where water rises out of the ground and a stream begins, not an ornamental jet of water.

5Then I heard the angel who is in charge of the waters say, "You are right and fair, Lord (the one who is, and who was, and who is to come) because you have judged this way.

5And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.

NoteJewish writing of this period often spoke of angels placed in charge of parts of the natural world, over fire, wind, or water; John's readers would have heard "the angel of the waters" as the angel appointed over them. "Which art, and wast, and shalt be" is a set formula for God's eternity, echoing the divine name given in Exodus. The Greek manuscripts differ at one point in this verse: some read "O Lord," others "O Holy One."

6They poured out the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. That is what they deserve."

6For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Note"They are worthy" is not praise. In 1611 "worthy" simply meant deserving, and could mean deserving of punishment as easily as of reward. The image of being made to drink blood is measure-for-measure language: what they poured out is what they are given to swallow.

7And I heard a voice from the altar answer, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, your judgments are true and fair."

7And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

NoteIn the Greek the altar itself speaks; KJV's "another out of the altar" supplies a voice. The altar was introduced in chapter 6, where the people killed for their testimony cry out from beneath it, so the answer comes from the place of the martyrs. "Even so" means simply "yes" or "agreed."

8The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given the power to burn people with fire.

8And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

NoteThe Greek pronoun is ambiguous: the power to scorch may be given to the angel or to the sun. KJV's "him" reads it of the sun, which is a masculine noun in Greek.

9People were burned by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God, who has authority over these disasters. But they would not turn from their sin and give him honor.

9And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Note"Blasphemed" in this chapter covers any speaking against God: cursing him, reviling him, insulting him aloud. It is broader than the modern narrow sense. "Repented not" uses "repent" in its older full sense of turning around and changing course, not merely feeling sorry.

10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and the beast's kingdom went dark. People bit their tongues because of the pain,

10And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

Note"Seat" meant throne in 1611, and the Greek word is the ordinary one for a ruler's throne. The point is the beast's seat of government, not a chair.

11and they cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores. But they would not turn away from the things they were doing.

11And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

12The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and its water dried up, so that the road would be ready for the kings from the east.

12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

NoteThe Euphrates was the great river of Mesopotamia and the eastern boundary of Roman territory. Beyond it lay Parthia, the empire Rome never conquered, whose cavalry Romans feared. Armies crossing from the east had to ford it, so a dried riverbed reads as an open invasion road.

13Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

NoteFrogs were unclean animals under Jewish food law, so an unclean spirit shaped like a frog is a double insult. Frogs also swarmed over Egypt in the second of the plagues in Exodus, which this chapter's sequence of disasters repeatedly echoes.

14They are the spirits of demons, and they do miracles. They go out to the kings of the earth, to all the kings everywhere, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

14For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

NoteKJV regularly says "devils" where the Greek has a plural word meaning lesser hostile spirits, demons, as distinct from the devil himself. "Working miracles" translates a word meaning signs: displays of power performed to prove a claim and win belief, not simply wonders.

15"Look, I am coming like a thief. The person who stays awake and keeps his clothes on is blessed, so that he does not walk around naked and have people see his shame."

15Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

NoteThis line breaks into the vision as a sudden first-person address, spoken by Christ, before the account resumes. "Watcheth" means stays awake, on guard. In this culture, being stripped and exposed in public was a matter of disgrace rather than merely of nakedness, so the picture is of someone caught off guard and humiliated.

16And the spirits gathered the kings together at the place that is called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.

16And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Note"Armageddon" transliterates Hebrew words usually taken as Har Megiddo, the mountain or hill of Megiddo. Megiddo was a fortress town guarding the pass into the plain of Jezreel in northern Israel, and several decisive battles of Israel's history were fought on that plain. There is no actual mountain at Megiddo, so the name has been argued over since antiquity.

17The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, and said, "It is done."

17And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Note"It is done" is a single Greek verb in a tense that means the thing has happened and now stands finished.

18Then there were voices, thunder, and flashes of lightning, and a great earthquake. There has never been an earthquake like it since people have lived on the earth; it was that powerful and that great.

18And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

Note"Voices" here translates a word for sounds or noises of any kind; in the storm language of this book it means the rumblings that accompany thunder, not speech.

19The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell down. God remembered great Babylon and gave her the cup filled with the wine of his fierce anger.

19And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Note"The great city" is left unnamed and readers have argued ever since over which city is meant. "Babylon" was the empire that destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 587 BC; later Jewish and Christian writers used the name as a byword for whatever imperial power was doing the same in their own day, and John does not say outright which one he means. "Came in remembrance before God" is a Hebrew idiom: when God "remembers" something he acts on it, and it does not imply that he had forgotten. The cup of wine is a stock image from the prophets, where nations are made to drink and stagger like drunks.

20Every island disappeared, and the mountains could not be found.

20And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21Huge hailstones fell from the sky on people, each stone weighing about a hundred pounds. And people cursed God because of the disaster of the hail, because that disaster was so terrible.

21And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

NoteA talent was a unit of weight, roughly seventy-five to a hundred pounds depending on which standard was in use, and it was the heaviest weight in common commercial reckoning. Hail falling on the enemies of God is an image from Exodus and from Joshua. "Exceeding great" means extremely great; "exceeding" was an ordinary intensifier in 1611.