The Revelation of St. John the Divine

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 8 -

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

And I saw seven Angels standing in the sight of God. And seven trumpets were given to them.(a)

And another Angel approached, and he stood before the altar, holding a golden censer. And much incense was given to him, so that he might offer upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God, the prayers of all the saints.

And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended, in the presence of God, from the hand of the Angel.

And the Angel received the golden censer, and he filled it from the fire of the altar, and he cast it down upon the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and a great earthquake.

The First Four Trumpets

And the seven Angels who hold the seven trumpets prepared themselves, in order to sound the trumpet.

And the first Angel sounded the trumpet. And there came hail and fire, mixed with blood; and it was cast down upon the earth. And a third part of the earth was burned, and a third part of the trees was entirely burned up, and all the green plants were burned.

And the second Angel sounded the trumpet. And something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast down into the sea. And a third part of the sea became like blood.

And a third part of the creatures that were living in the sea died. And a third part of the ships were destroyed.(b)

And the third Angel sounded the trumpet. And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. And it fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the sources of water.

And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third part of the waters were turned into wormwood. And many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.(c)

And the fourth Angel sounded the trumpet. And a third part of the sun, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars were struck, in such a way that a third part of them was obscured. And a third part of the day did not shine, and similarly the night.(d)

And I saw, and I heard the voice of a lone eagle flying through the midst of heaven, calling with a great voice: “Woe, Woe, Woe, to the inhabitants of the earth, from the remaining voices of the three Angels, who will soon sound the trumpet!”

Footnotes

(a)8:2 The length of time for the silence is figurative, because heaven is timeless.(Conte)

(b)8:9 One of the larger pieces of this comet will fall into the ocean. This will cause great devastation at sea and will cause huge tidal waves to inundate areas near the shore. Very many more human lives will be lost; very many ships and many cities will be utterly destroyed; many fish will die.(Conte)

(c)8:11 This star burning like a torch refers to the radioactive fallout from certain nuclear weapons (those made using plutonium or uranium) used in World War IV (the Sixth Seal). Radioactivity from nuclear weapons takes time to rise up into the upper atmosphere, to circulate around the world, and then to fall slowly to earth. Once this occurs, during and after World War IV, radioactivity will be found in the oceans, especially the Atlantic, and on the land. However, the main source of the radioactivity at this time is the events of the first two Trumpets. The fires caused by the first Trumpet raise radioactive material from the land into the atmosphere, where it is next removed from the atmosphere by rain. Thus it makes numerous sources of water unusable. Then the second Trumpet strikes the ocean, causing a huge quantity of ocean water, with its radioactivity, to be raised up into the atmosphere. Again, it falls back to the earth’s surface in rainwater. As a result, very many human lives will be lost, due to the radioactivity in the water.(Conte)

(d)8:12 This decrease in the amount of light coming from the Sun and moon and stars is caused by a nuclear winter, which results not only from World War IV (an all-out nuclear war), but also from the huge number of fires caused by the falling pieces of the comet.(Conte)