Revelation 8


Revelation 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate.
In verse 1, the opening of the seventh seal concludes a section beginning in chapter 6 which records the opening of the "Seven Seals". Verses 2-13 and chapters 9 to 11 contain an account relating to the sounding of the "Seven Trumpets". In chapter 8, the first four angels' trumpets are sounded.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 13 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others:

The Seventh Seal (8:1–5)

Verse 1

"The silence in heaven, lasting about a half-hour, begins at the place where the songs of praise still resound." The Expanded Bible describes the silence as "a dramatic pause induced by awe". Silence in the presence of God is evoked by several of the minor prophets: Habakkuk 2:20, and.

Verse 2

  • "The seven angels who stand before God": Heinrich Meyer notes that these are "seven particular angels, not called 'archangels', who, with a certain precedency above all the rest, stand before God". In the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, Raphael introduces himself as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord". W. H. Simcox, in the Cambridge [Bible for Schools and Colleges] commentary, suggests that the passage in Tobit bears reference to "a popular Jewish belief as to these Angels" and that "St John’s vision is expressed in terms of that belief and, it may fairly be thought, sanctions it with his prophetic authority".

The First Four Trumpets (8:6–12)

Similar to the first four seals, 'the first four trumpet-blasts' form a quartet', each affecting a third of the four regions of God's creation: earth, sea, fresh water, and heavens.

Verse 6

Mayer points out that "this includes the grasping of the trumpets in such a way that they could bring them to their mouths".

Before the Last Three Trumpets (8:13)

This part serves as a marker to indicate the sequence of the woes and to make aware the ' progress' of the terrifying plagues.

Verse 13