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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 1 Enoch 21:3 and Revelation 8:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation 8 describes a burning star falling like a mountain, an image that recalls the apocalyptic imagery in 1 Enoch 21 where seven stars, representing rebellious angels, appear as burning mountains bound together.

Passages

1 Enoch 21:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 I went on to where things were chaotic. 2 There I saw something terrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place that was chaotic and terrible. 3 There I saw seven stars of heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and blazing with fire. 4 Then I said: 'For what sin are they bound, and why have they been thrown in here?' 5 Then Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me and was their leader, said: 'Enoch, why do you ask, and why are you so eager for the truth? 6 These are among the stars of heaven that transgressed the command of the Lord, and they are bound here until ten thousand years, the time fixed for their sins, are completed.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 8:8

New Testament
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.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... The third trumpet resembles the plague of the freshwater in Exodus 7:20, the Nile turned to blood. That this is a “great star” with a specific name is important. Enoch describes fallen angels as “seven stars of heaven ... like great mountains and burning with fire” (1 Enoch 21:3). It is therefore likely the image of a star falling from heaven refers to some kind of spiritual being. Unlike Disney-saturated western world, “shooting stars” were signs of good luck. A falling star was bad luck and a comet was even worse. “…comets were considered prodigies that signaled the imminence of death and disaster (Manilius Astron. 1.892-926; cited by Aune 2:520). Anyone reading these verses in the first century would understand this as a “bad sign.” The star is named Wormwood (ὁ Ἄψινθος, apsinth). Wormwood is a non-poisonous bitter-tasting herb (Artemisia absinthium) that makes the fresh water undrinkable. Tarragon and sage belong to the same family. Of the several varieties of Wormwood known in the ancient world, the one that grown in the Galatian mountains was so strong that “a single ounce diluted in 524 gallons of water can still be tasted” ..."
Phillip J. Long, The Third Trumpet: Wormwood Falls into the Fresh Water - Revelation 8:10-11 (Grace Christian University, 2020), 1–5.

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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1 Enoch 21:3 and Revelation 8:8

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