Revelation 8

Then the Lamb opened the seventh piece of wax that sealed the scroll. When he did, there was no sound at all in heaven for a short time.

I then saw the seven angels who are God’s personal attendants. He gave each of them a trumpet.

Another angel then came and stood at the altar. He had a golden bowl for burning incense. God gave him a large quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all God’s people on the golden altar in front of God’s throne.

{The angel started burning the incense.} The smoke from the incense burning in the container that the angel was holding went up to God along with the prayers of God’s people.

Then the angel took the golden incense bowl and filled it with coals of fire from the altar. He threw these coals and the burning incense onto the earth. When he did, thunder crashed and rumbled, lightning flashed, and the earth shook. \*

Then the seven angels, each of whom had one of the seven trumpets, got ready to blow them.

Then the first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire appeared. There was blood in the midst of the hail and fire. All of it poured down onto the earth. The fire burned up one third of everything on the surface of the land, one third of the trees, and all the green grass. \*

Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something that was like a huge mountain that was on fire fell into the ocean. As a result, one third of the ocean became blood,

one third of the living creatures in the ocean died, and one third of the ships in the ocean sank \*

Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star fell from the sky. The star was blazing as if it were on fire. Parts of the star fell into one third of the rivers and into {one third of} the springs of water on earth.

The name of the star is Bitterness. When it fell into one third of the rivers and springs, their water became poisonous. Many people died from drinking that poisonous water. \*

Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and God struck the sun, the moon, and the stars so that they lost their light for one third of the time. The sun did not shine during one third of the day, and the moon and stars did not shine during one third of the night. \*

Then, as I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying high in the sky shouting loudly, “Three terrible things will happen to the people who live on the earth when the three remaining angels blow their trumpets! They are about to blow them!” \*