The Bowls of God’s Anger

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s ·anger [wrath] on the earth.”

² The first angel left and poured out his bowl on the land. Then ·ugly [foul] and painful sores [^Creminiscent of the sixth Egyptian plague; Ex. 9:9–11; Job 2] came upon all those who had the ·mark [brand] of the beast and who worshiped his ·idol [image].

³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood like that of a ·dead man [corpse; ^Creminiscent of the first Egyptian plague; Ex. 7:14–21; see also 8:8–9], and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood [^Calso similar to the first Egyptian plague]. ⁵ Then I heard the angel of the waters saying:

  ⁷ And I heard ·a voice coming from the altar [^Lthe altar] saying:

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and ·he [or it; ^Ceither the sun or the angel] was given ·power [authority] to ·burn [scorch] the people with fire. ⁹ They were ·burned [scorched] by the great heat, and they ·cursed [blasphemed] the name of God, who had ·control [authority; power] over these ·disasters [plagues]. But the people ·refused to change their hearts and lives [^Ldid not repent] and give ·glory [honor] to God.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and darkness covered its kingdom [8:12; ^Creminiscent of the ninth Egyptian plague; Ex. 10:21–29]. People ·gnawed [bit] their tongues because of the ·pain [agony]. ¹¹ They also cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and the sores they had, but they refused to ·change their hearts and turn away [repent] from ·the evil things they did [^Ltheir deeds].

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates so that the water in the river was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east to come [^Creminiscent of the splitting of the Red Sea and the Jordan; Ex. 14:21–22; Josh. 3:13–17]. ¹³ Then I saw three ·evil [^Lunclean] spirits that looked like frogs [^Creminiscent of the second Egyptian plague; Ex. 8:1–15] coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ [^LFor] These evil spirits are the spirits of demons, ·which have power to do miracles [^Lthat perform signs]. They go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the battle on the great day of God ·Almighty [All-powerful].

¹⁵ “Listen [^LLook; ^TBehold]! I will come as a thief comes [^Cthat is, without warning]! ·Blessed [Happy] are those who stay ·awake [alert] and keep their clothes on [^Ca metaphor for staying faithful and pure] so that they will not walk around naked and have people see their shame.”

¹⁶ Then ·the evil spirits [^Lthey] gathered the kings together to the place that is called Armageddon in the Hebrew language [^Cmeaning “Mountain of Megiddo,” a strategic pass in northern Israel].

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It ·is finished [is done; has come to pass]!” ¹⁸ Then there were flashes of lightning, ·noises, thunder [rumbling thunder], and a ·big [great] earthquake [4:5; 11:19]—the ·worst [greatest; most violent] earthquake that has ever happened since people have been on earth. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations ·were destroyed [fell; collapsed]. And God remembered ·the sins of Babylon [^LBabylon] the Great, so he gave that city the cup filled with the wine of ·his terrible anger [^Lthe anger/fury of his wrath; 14:8]. ²⁰ Then every island ·ran away [fled], and mountains ·disappeared [^Lwere not to be found]. ²¹ Giant hailstones, each weighing about ·a hundred pounds [^La talent], fell from the sky upon people [^Creminiscent of the seventh Egyptian plague; 11:19; Ex. 9:13–35]. People ·cursed [blasphemed] God for the ·disaster [plague] of the hail, because this ·disaster [plague] was so terrible.