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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 8

1 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.⁠ 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.⁠ 3 Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne.⁠ 4 The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.⁠ 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. 6 Now the seven angels holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood,⁠ and it was thrown at the earth so that a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.⁠ 8 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood,⁠ 9 and a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were completely destroyed. 10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star burning like a torch fell from the sky; it landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.⁠ 11 (Now the name of the star is Wormwood.) So a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned.⁠ 12 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, 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 were darkened. And there was no light for a third of the day and for a third of the night likewise.⁠ 13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying directly overhead, proclaiming with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!”

Texts in conversation

Compare Revelation 8:1 and Chagigah 12b

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

Revelation 8 describes a moment of silence in heaven before divine judgment begins, language similar to Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah where angelic beings pause to allow human prayers to be heard.

Passages

Revelation 8:1

New Testament
1 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

Chagigah 12b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
Ma’on, habitation, is where there are groups of ministering angels who recite song at night and are silent during the day out of respect for Israel, in order not to compete with their songs, as it is stated: “By day the Lord will command His kindness, and in the night His song is with me” (Psalms 42:9), indicating that the song of the angels is with God only at night.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Chagigah

References

"... Finally, there is a Jewish tradition that in the fifth heaven angelic servants praise God at night but become silent during the day so that the praises offered by Israel could be heard by God (b. Chagigah 12b; b. Avoda Zara 3b). A partial basis for both this Jewish tradition and Revelation 8:1 may be Psalm 65:1–2: “There will be silence before Thee, [even] praise in Zion . . . O Thou who dost hear prayer” (compare Midrash Psalm 65:1; b. Eruvin 19a; Midrash Psalm 31 on Psalm 31:18; Testament of Adam 1:11–12; 4Q405 20 II, 7). A variant of this theme is reflected in Targum Ezekiel 1:24–25, which asserts that when the guardian cherubs were in motion, they “were blessing and thanking” God, but “when they stood still, [they] became silent” in order to hear God’s revelatory word, which in the context of Ezekiel 1–2 is a pronouncement of judgment on Israel ..."
G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 2496.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Revelation 8:1 and Chagigah 12b

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