CHAPTER 16

16:121. THE POURING OUT OF THE SEVEN BOWLS .

1. .] A great voice from heaven is
usually that of an angel, cf. 5:2 ,
7:2 ... . ., 10:3 [ ] . .,
and similarly 14:7, 14:9, 14:15, 14:18. But as this Voice comes from the , which at
the time, as we have been told, no creature could enter, the Speaker here must be
presumed to be God Himself; cf. Mt. 3:17, 17:5, Jo. 12:28, 2 Pet. 1:17 f. The Voice is
repeated after the seventh Bowl, v. 17.
, Go your ways (cf. Mc. 6:38, 14:13, 16:7, Jac. 2:16), pour out
(for the form see W. Schm. p. 115; Blass would correct , Gr. p. 41) the
Seven Bowls of the Wrath of God into (, as in 14:19) the Earth. Permission to
proceed having been given (cf. 14:15, 14:18), the Seven advance one by one, each in his
own order ( , ., as in 8:7 ff.).
The Seven Plagues that follow have obvious affinities to (1) the Ten Plagues of
Egypt, (2) the visitations which accompany the Seven Trumpet-blasts of cc. 811., and
especially to the latter; the first, sixth, and ninth of the Egyptian plagues, and the
second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh of the Trumpet plagues are more or less distinctly
in view here. Yet the Last Plagues have features peculiar to themselves; the fourth is
entirely new, the rest are more or less freshly conceived. On the other hand the
differences are deeper and more suggestive. While no personal suffering is inflicted on
Man by the first five of the Egyptian plagues or by the first four of the Trumpetvisitations, he is attacked at the very outset of the present cycle. Again, while the first
four Trumpet-plagues affect only a third of the earth, the sea, the fresh water supply, and
the lights of heaven, no such limitation appears in the account of the Seven Plagues now
about to be described. They are not tentative chastisements, but punitive and final.
2. .] ... is doubtless to be
repeated by the readers thought in vv. 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 17. The Seven are not conceived
as stepping forward, one by one, to discharge their tasks, and then returning to their
places in the procession, but rather as going off, each in his order, until all have
vanished. : the metaphor is not inappropriate, cf. Lucian Calumn. 23
.
The result of the first outpouring is to produce a plague on man similar to the sixth
Egyptian plague; cf. Ex. 9:10 , ,
and see Deut. 28:27, 28:35 ... .
((

) ... ; Job 2:7

, (
(
) . The Egyptian ,
it is noted, attacked even the magicians, the antagonists of Moses (
); is the Seer mindful of this when he
represents the first of the Last Plagues as breaking out in sores on the Caesarworshippers, who were controlled by the magicians of the temples of Rome and the
Augusti (cf. 13:13 ff., notes)? , bad and malignant; the lexicons
take as= painful (Suidas), but the passages quoted above from the

LXX. lead us to regard it as the equivalent of (

, actively mischievous, malignant in
the technical sense. ... =

(
( Ex. l.c.).
3. ... .] The Second Bowl corresponds
generally with the Second Trumpet (8:8 f.), and both are suggested by the first Egyptian
plague (Ex. 7:14 ff.). In Egypt the Nile alone is smitten; in Patmos the Seer naturally
thinks first of the sea. The Aegean, receiving the contents of the second angels bowl,
turns (as he had often seen it turn at sunset) to a blood red =,

,
Ex. 7:19he adds , which brings up the picture of a murdered man weltering
in his blood; cf. Arethas: , . The fish in the Nile died (Ex.
7:21); a third of the living things in the sea perished under the Second Trumpet (c. 8:9);
the destruction wrought by the third Bowl is complete (

, Gen. 1:21) , , where . . is in apposition with

. ., as with in 8:9, and defines it. No burning

mountain (8:8) is needed here, and no falling star (8:10) in the next plague; the deadly
work is done by the direct action of the wrath poured out by the angels of the Bowls
(16:1).
4. ... .] As under the Third Trumpet, the smiting
of the fresh-water supply follows that of the sea. But the result is different; in 8:11 the
third part of the waters are turned into wormwood; here the whole supply is turned, as in
the case of the sea (v. 3), into blood. On cf. 8:10, note.
, sc. ( ). The smiting of the springs prevented any
such measures as the Egyptians took for evading the effects of the plague (Ex. 7:24).
Why the waters are turned to blood is now explained by two voices which the Seer
overhears (v. 5 ff.).
5. .] With . . . cf.
7:1 ... , 9:11
, 14:17 ... . See also Enoch 66:2 (ed.
Charles, p. 172): these angels were over the powers of the waters. The Rabbinic
writers speak of an angel set over the earth ( ) ( , and of
another who is prince of the sea ( , ;) every element, every form of created
life, has its angel-counterpart (Yalkut Ruben, f. 7. 1 dicunt sapientes nostri: Non est
herba quae non habeat angelum suum in supernis. Similar ideas prevailed among the
Persians and find a place in Zoroastrianism: see reff. in note on 1:20. Cf. Andreas:
; and so Arethas:
(Deut. 32:8, LXX.) ,
. The spirit of the waters is so far from resenting the
plague that he bears witness to the justice which inflicts it. His words form a sort of
antiphon to the canticle in 15:3 f.; they illustrate the divine and
proclaimed in the Song. is doubtless to be read, notwithstanding the omission
of the article by our best MSS.; would have easily dropt out before , and on the
other hand (anarthrous) cannot be taken as a predicate after , a
procedure which the usage of the Apocalypse forbids, and to treat it as in apposition

with creates an intolerable harshness. It is not equally certain how is to

be rendered, whether as in apposition to (qui es et fusti pius), or as
equivalent to a vocative, but the latter is perhaps to be preferred (cf. R.V., Thou Holy
One, and Blass, Gr. p. 26 f.). On . see 1:4, note; on as applied to God,
15:4, note.
6. .] The construction is not free from
ambiguity; the two clauses beginning , , may be parallel, as in 15:4
... ..., or the second clause may be explanatory of the first (cf.
R.V. text, Blass, Gr. p. 274); or again, the second may begin a new sentence:
because they poured out the blood of saints and prophets Thou hast given them blood
also to drink (R.V.mg.). On the whole the last-named rendering seems preferable; it
gives meaning to , which as a mere copula is somewhat nerveless in such a context.
The Seer still has in view the condition of Asia; as the first plague is directed against the
Caesar-worshippers, so the second avenges the blood of those who suffered for refusing
to offer sacrifice to the Augusti. Here and perhaps also in 18:24 , though read in
each place by only one uncial MS., is probably original; it represents the Hebrew
,
as in 1 Regn. 25:33, 2 Regn. 16:7, Ps. 5:7, etc. , loyal Christians
and their leaders, the prophetic order; for the combination cf. 11:18, 18:24, and for
(here the Christian prophets exclusively) see Mt. 23:34, Acts 11:27, 13:1 etc.,
1 Cor. 12:28 f., Eph. 2:20, 3:5, 4:11. On (also )= cf. WH.2, Notes, p. 177,
Blass, Gr. pp. 23, 36, W. Schm., p. 53 f.
forms a terrible antithesis to the . of 3:4, and as Alford remarks,
the asyndeton adds strength to the words. For in a bad sense cf. Lc. 12:48
, Rom. 1:32 , Heb. 10:29 .
7. .] A response comes to the Angel of
the Waters from the Altar in Heaven, whether the Angel of the Altar is meant (cf. 14:18)
or the Altar itself is personified; cf. 9:13
, and see note there. The Altar or its Angel represents the
sacrifices and prayers of the Church (14. l.c., note), and thus the (Petr. Ev. 9) is
ultimately that of the Saints and Prophets.
, . is taken almost verbally from the Song of Moses and of the
Lamb, and indeed is an epitome of it. The phrase ,
which is repeated in the on the Fall of Babylon (19:2), seems to come from
Ps. 18. (19.) 10.
8 f. ... ] The Fourth Bowl, like the Fourth
Trumpet, takes effect upon the sun. But the effect is different and nearly opposite;
instead of a plague of darkness (8:12) there follows a plague of excessive heat. The sun
receives power ( , cf. 7:2, 8:3, 9:5, 13:7, 13:15) to scorch mankind with fire
( , cf. 14:10), i.e the temperature rises to fire-heat. For , used of the
suns rays, see Mc. 4:6, note, and for Dan. 3:66
; on see Blass, Gr. p. 91 f. :
contrast 7:16 .
WH. Westcott and Hort, N.T. in Greek second edition (1896).

The moral effect of the visitation was doubly disastrous; men blasphemed God as
the cause of their sufferings, and they withheld from Him the tribute of penitence which
He demanded. The of God no less than His (Rom. 2:4, 11:22) calls
to repentance; but like Pharaoh the sufferers were hardened by His judgements. Andreas
has a pathetic illustration to offer from his own experience:

,
. For the phrase (= , vv. 11, 21) see
Isa. 52:5, Jac. 2:7, Rom. 2:24, 1 Tim. 6:1. is repeated at intervals like a
refrain, cf. 9:20 f., 16:11; on see 11:13 note.
10 f. ... .] The Fifth Plague
touches the seat of the World-power, and involves it in Egyptian darkness. With
compare 2:13 , and 13:2 (sc.
) ... . The commentators quote Tac. hist. 4:2 nomen
sedemque Caesaris Domitianus acceperat. If a particular place is in view, it is doubtless
Rome, but the point is that whilst earlier plagues have seized on the subjects of the
Empire, the very seat of government is now assailed; the Empire itself, in its heart and
centre ( ) is covered with a pall of darkness which forebodes death; for
see 9:2, note. Meanwhile the effects of the earlier plagues continue. The
pain (= as in Gen. 34:25, 1 Regn. 15:23, Bar. 2:25, cf. c. 21:4) caused by the
scorching heat of the Fourth Plague, and the malignant sores of the first, was such that
men chewed their tongues in agony. , a word used in Aristophanes and by
later Greek writers, occurs in the Greek Bible only here and in Job 30:4
; in Sir. 19:9 , the reading of cod. A, is probably a
scribes error. With cf. used as an
indication of intolerable pain in Mt. 8:12 etc.
As in the case of the Fourth Plague the judgement produced no moral change, but
drove men to worse sin; they blasphemed, they did not repent. ,

,
as in Dan. 2:44 (


) , cf. Bevan ad loc.; the phrase recalls the pride of the
rulers of old Babylon and their vain resistance to the God of Israel. For the use of in
, , cf. 8:13 ... ., and on
see v. 2, note. On . compare 9:20 f., notes; without
the addition of the phrase is indefinite, and may include both the idolatries
and the immoralities of heathendom.
12. ... ... ] It is significant that the
Euphrates is named in connexion with both the Sixth Trumpet and the Sixth Bowl, see
9:14, note. The Sixth Trumpet loosed the angels who were detained at the river, and who
when released set in motion an enormous host (ib. 16). The Sixth Bowl drains the bed of
the river, and thus opens the way for the advance of the Kings from the East, the
avant-coureurs of the forces flocking to the last war (infra, v. 14). In both cases a barrier
which checks for a time the progress of events is at length removed, while in the present
instance the mention of the East points to events expected to arise on the eastern frontier
of the Empire.

 . More than one O.T. miracle and more than one

prophecy may be in view. The drying of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21
), and of the Jordan (Jos. 3:17 ) had suggested such
prophecies as Isa. 11:15
., Jer.
28. (51.) 36 , Zech. 10:11
... , and were
probably in the Apocalyptists thoughts. It is possible that his mind runs also on the
story told by Herodotus (1:191) of the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, who marched into
the city across the drained bed of the Euphrates; a new Babylon is to be surprised, and
the drying up of the river marks the removal of the last obstacle to its fall.
. Prim.: venienti
regi ab oriente sole; cf. Commodian, carm. apol. 9. 5 f.: siccatur fluvius Euphrates
denique totus, | ut via paretur regi cum gentibus illis. The expected invasion of the
Empire by the Parthian satraps (or according to the reading of Primasius, the Parthian
king) was at least present to the writers thoughts. Until Parthia was reduced by Trajan
and his successors, the Arsacidae not only offered a stubborn resistance to the Roman
advance but from time to time caused serious alarm, which was increased by the
popular legend of Neros impending return at the head of a Parthian host; cf. Orac.
Sibyll. 4:137 sqq. |
, , | ; 5:363
| ... .
The legend supplies at least in part the imagery under which the Seer imagines the
gathering of the powers from East and West for the coming struggle.
For see Isa. 40:3 (Mc. 1:3, Lc.
1:76, 3:4), and for cf. 7:2, note.
13. .] The Dragon is doubtless the
of 12:3, identified with Satan (ib. 9), the Great Adversary who is
behind the whole movement about to be described. Similarly the Wild Beast is the Beast
of 13:1called in 13:12, but thenceforward simply . (13:14
ff., 14:9, 14:11, 15:2, 16:2, 16:10), i.e. the brute force of the World-power represented
by the Roman Empire. Of the False Prophet we have not heard before under that name;
but his association here and in 19:20, 20:10, with the first Wild Beast points to the
second Beast of 13:11, and the identification is completed by the description in 19:20
., compared with 13:14
. The
, then, is the false spiritual power which made common cause with the
temporal power in doing Satans work; cf. 13:11 ff., notes.
Professor Ramsay (Letters to the Seven Churches, pp. 97, 101 ff.) holds that the
Second Beast and the False Prophet are to be distinguished, and that the former is the
Province of Asia in its double aspect of civil and religious administration, and the latter
some definite person who exercised most influence in stone part of Asia and was the
leading spirit in performing the miracles and signs as real as the prophetess of

Thyatira. He suggests the name of Apollonius of Tyana. But (1) the book itself
identifies the False Prophet with the Second Beast; (2) an individual could scarcely be
placed in the same category with the Dragon and the Beast. On the other hand it is not
impossible that such a person as Apollonius was in the mind of the Seer when he
described the pagan priesthood and its influence as ; it was through
such men that their power over the people of Asia was secured.
, a LXX. rendering of
in Zech. 13:2, and frequently in
Jeremiah, is used in the N.T. of pretenders to inspiration, or persons Satanically
inspired, whether before or after Christ (Mt. 7:15, Mc. 13:22, note, Lc. 6:26, 2 Pet. 2:1,
1 Jo. 4:1; cf. Didache 11:9). The nearest parallel to the Apocalyptic use of the term is
found in Acts 13:6 , .
., like (1 Jo. 2:22, 4:3, 2 Jo. 7), covers a whole classmagicvendors, religious impostors, fanatics, whether deceivers or deceived, regarded as
persons who falsely interpret the Mind of God. True religion has no worse enemies, and
Satan no better allies.
, . Three unclean spirits come forth out of the
mouths of the three evil powers, one from each. The mouth as the organ of speech, the
chief source of human influence, is frequently in the Apoc. the instrument of good or
evil; cf. 1:16 (19:15, 19:21), 9:17 f., 11:5, 12:15. The metaphor is specially appropriate
here in view of the double sense of (cf. 2 Th. 2:8
); the three hostile powers breathed forth evil influences. On
see Mc. 1:23 ff. note, 3:11, 5:2 ff., Acts 5:16, 8:7. Christ expelled unclean spirits, but
His enemies send them forth, the False Prophet not less than the Dragon or the Beast;
cf. Zech. 13:2 . : to the
Seer the spirits took the form of frogsa reference perhaps to the Egyptian plague (Ex.
8:5 (1) ff., Ps. 77. (78.) 45, 104. (105.) 30, Sap. 19:10), with a side glance at the law of
clean and unclean animals (Lev. 11:10 ff.). Cf. Andreas: ...
. Philo explains the frogs of Egypt as idle
fancies: (de sacr. Abelis et Caini 69 , ,
); to St John they are
worse, the symbols of impure impulses. Artemidorus comes nearer to our writer: 2:15
. The ceaseless, aimless,
of the frog often referred to by ancient commentators (cf. Aug. in
Ps. 77:27 rana est loquacissima vanitas) seems to be beside the mark in this context.
On ... ... see Benson, Apocalypse, p. 145 f.
14. .] A parenthesis which justifies ,
: unclean, for they are daemon-spirits; cf. 1 Tim. 4:1
. The sequence is resumed at ,
which is to be taken with , I saw three spirits issuing forth working
signs. is characteristically though by no means exclusively Johannine, while
is used in this group of writings but once and =miracle not at all. The
false prophet of the O.T. offered in proof of his mission (Deut. 13:1 (2)), and the
Church was warned to expect such tokens from latter-day impostors (Mc. 13:22, 2 Th.

2:9). From the magicians who withstood Moses before Pharaoh down to such products
of the first century as Simon Magus and Apollonius, pretenders to spiritual powers had
claimed to work signs, which the belief of the age attributed, not perhaps wholly
without reason, to superhuman influence, though the wonders themselves were due to
such causes as sleight of hand: cf. 13:13 f., notes.
. While the Kings from the East, represented
by the Parthian enemies of Rome, are ready to move westwards as soon as the obstacle
to their progress is removed, the other rulers of the world are roused to action by
impulses from withoutthe unclean spirits of the Beast and the False Prophet, the lust
of power, and the bitterness of a false religion contending with the truebehind both
these motives there is the spirit of the Great Adversary, antagonism to the Divine Will.
There have been times when nations have been seized by a passion for war which the
historian can but imperfectly explain. Such an epoch the Seer foresees, but, unlike any
that has come before it, it will involve the whole world in war. (cf.
3:10, 12:9) is perhaps wider than the simple (Lc. 2:1, Acts 17:6, 19:27,
24:5)not the Empire only, but the world, so far as the conception could be grasped at
the end of the first century.
.] The Greek commentators
interpret this of an internecine struggle between the kings; cf. Arethas:
a remark which he justifies by quoting Mc. 13:8
. On the other hand
points to Ps. 2:2
, and
... leads to the same conclusion; the war is directed against Heaven,
and it will culminate in the final triumph of God. But if so, is this the battle which is
described in 17:14 and in 19:19? Probably it is, for the Sixth Bowl does not open the
campaign, but merely marshals the forces and places them on the battlefield. The Seer
sees the whole process foreshortened, and he expresses it in the terms of his own age;
the expected Parthian invasion takes shape in his mind as the first scene in the drama; a
general arming of the nations follows, and the end, which is not yet, will be the breaking
of the Day of God.
On see 6:17, note; , if genuine, points back to the
O.T. prophecies, e.g. Joel 2:11 , ,
3:4 ; is a Pauline
synonym for the Parousia (2 Th. 1:10, 2 Tim. 1:12, 1:18, 4:8), which is also called []
[] [ ] (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 1:14, Phil. 1:6, 2:16, 1 Th. 5:2,
2 Th. 2:2); occurs in 2 Pet. 3:12. (1:8, note)
asserts the sovereignty of God, which that day will manifest; or if the writers mind
reverted to the original, he may have thought of the hosts (
) which would be
ranged on the side of righteousness and truth (cf. 19:14).
15. .] A Voice breaks the thread of the Seers report:
whose voice it is there is no need to explain; cf. 3:3, note. Its special appositeness in this

context arises from the fact that the Seer has seen the gathering of the forces for the war
of the Great Day begin.
is one of seven in the Apocalypse; see 1:3,
14:13, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, 22:14. On see 3:2, note, and on , 1:3, note; the
whole saying is based on 3:3, 3:18, where see notes. is
euphemistically written for (3:18); the former word is repeatedly used in
Lev. 18., 20. for
(
, which is rendered by in Ez. 16:36, 16:38, 22:10, 23:10
(B), 18 (B), 29. With cf. Ps.-Clem. 2 Cor. 8
, .
16. ... ] The Seer resumes his narrative. They
(the daemon-spirits) fulfilled their mission; they (not he, as A.V.) gathered the kings
together to the great war, as they were sent to do. The Palestinian writer recognises the
battlefieldone familiar to a Galilean and a student of Hebrew history. is
doubtless

: the form occurs in Jud. 1:27 (A) and 2 Chron. 35:22,
and in Jud. l.c. (B); cf. Cheyne in Enc. Bibl. col. 3010. Megiddo, Lejjun,
which lay on the route of caravans and military expeditions from the Philistine littoral
and from Egypt (ib. 3011; cf. G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 391), was the scene of a
series of disasters; there Barak and Deborah overthrew the hosts of the Canaanite king
Jabin (Jud. 5:19 , );
there Ahaziah died of Jehus arrows (2 Kings 9:27) and Pharaoh Necho overthrew
Josiah (2 Kings 23:29 f., 2 Chr. 35:22; cf. Herod. 2:159). The last of these events burnt
itself into the memory of the Jewish people, and the mourning for Josiah in the valley of
Megiddo was long afterwards quoted as a typical instance of national grief (Zech.
12:11). Thus Megiddo fitly symbolizes the world-wide distress of the nations at the
overthrow of their kings in the final war.
But why ? The water of Megiddo, i.e. probably the Kishon,
mentioned as the scene of Siseras defeat, flows through the plain of Esdraelon; Josiah
met his death in the plain ( .=2 ,(
Chr., Zech., ll. cc.; cf. G.

A. Smith, op. cit. p. 385); no instance is quoted of

elsewhere. But not to
mention that Megiddo itself lay at the base of the hills which terminate in Carmel, the
form Har Magedon may have been purposely used to bring the final conflict into
connexion with Ez. 39:2, 39:4 ( ... ),
which is evidently before the writers mind in 20:8 ff. On the proposal to write .=

(
, i.e. the city of Megiddo, see WH., Notes, p. 313, and to the parallels which
they produce in support of . add (Field, Hexapla, 2. p. 167). Syrgw. has
simply . The fancy of Gunkel that the reference is not to Megiddo but to an old
myth, though accepted by Bousset and by Cheyne (Enc. Bibl., l.c.), does not merit
serious consideration. On see 9:11, note.
Enc. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica (London, 1899
1903).
WH. Westcott and Hort, N.T. in Greek (Cambridge, 1891).

17. ... .] The air which all men breathe (Sap.

7:3 ), the workshop of the physical disturbances which affect human
health and life, is smitten by the pouring out of the Seventh Bowla plague of wider
significance than the smiting of the earth (v. 2), or sea (v. 3), or fresh waters (v. 4), or
even the sun (v. 8). The seventh angels action is followed by a Great Voice which
proceeds out of () the Sanctuary, and from () the Throne (4:2, note), and proclaims
that the end has been reached. , it is done, it has come to pass; cf. 21:6
, sc. ; here the sing. refers to the whole series of plagues
now completed, or to the decree which set it in motion; cf. Lc. 14:22 ,
. The Voice is specially appropriate in this connexion, since these plagues are
the last (15:1); there remain no further manifestations of this kind.
18. .] The usual accompaniments of a great visitation; cf.
8:5, 11:19, notes; for , see Lc. 21:11, Apoc. 6:12, 11:13. Writing in a
century remarkable for the number and severity of its earthquakes, and to men whose
country was specially subject to them, St John is careful to distinguish this final shock
from even the greatest hitherto known; it was
: cf. Mc. 13:19 ...
(see note there). The striking phrase is heightened by the pleonastic (Jac.
3:4, 2 Cor. 1:10, Heb. 2:3) . . Never had the earth been shaken by such
throes as these; cf. Hagg. 2:6
, with the comment in Heb. 12:27.
19. .] In 11:13 a tenth part of the city
falls; here the whole is torn asunder, great fissures dividing it henceforth into three
parts; cf. Zech. 14:4 ... . In the former case it was
Jerusalem that suffered (11:8, note); now it seems to be Babylon, i.e. Rome (14:8, note).
But Rome is not alone in her distress; the effects of the earthquake are felt throughout
the Empire and beyond it; everywhere the cities of the heathen ( , cf. 11:2) are
shaken to their fall; this is no local visitation (Mc. 13:8 ), but world-wide.
. .] The capital had seemed
hitherto to have been overlooked in the meting out of Divine rewards and punishments,
but her hour has come at last; cf. Andreas:
; Bede: impius in memoriam Deo veniet, qui nunc dicit in corde suo Oblitus
est Deus. The mills of God, if they grind slowly, are never stopped except by human
repentance; cf. Jer. 37. (30). 24 .
, , passive, occur in Ezekiel (3:20
, 18:22, 18:24, 33:16 (A)), and the construction is imitated in Acts
10:31 ; in Sirach, middle and
passive are used in consecutive lines (16:17:
; ). Dr Gwynn observes
that both the Syriac versions have , a rare use of this form in passive
sense, corresponding to the rare (passive). With ... , compare
11:18 ... ... , 16:9 .

It is interesting to find Arethas writing in the tenth century:

... ..
... ; . Each age has its Babylon
which seems to call for Divine intervention.
20. .] The Seer resumes from v. 18 his account of the
effects produced by the Seventh Bowl. The words recall 6:14

, where see note. (=

, cf. 1
Regn. 13:22, Ps. 36. (37.) 36, Jer. 48. (41.) 8); compare cc. 5:4, 12:8, 14:5, 18:21 ff. For
a parallel to the whole verse see c. 20:11 ,
.
21. .] In the seventh Egyptian
plague there fell a hail , (Ex. 9:24).
So in the great battle of the Bethhorons a hailstorm decided the issue (Jos. 10:11
...
. ). Thus a
great hail became the symbol of Divine wrath against the foes of Israel; cf. Isa. 28:2
, ; Ez. 38:22
... ; Sap. 5:22 .
followed the Seventh Trumpet (11:19), but that which came with the
outpouring of the Seventh Bowl was , grando ingens talenti ponderis
(Prim.), each stone about the weight of a talent. in the LXX. almost

, a round weight ranging from 108 lbs. or less to 130

invariably represents
(B.D.B., p. 505). A stone weight found at Jerusalem in 1891, supposed to be a talent,
weighed about 646,000 grains (Pal. Expl. Fund Statement, 1892, p. 289 f., cited in
Hastings, 4. p. 906). Josephus (antt. 3. 6, 7) speaks of the golden candlestick as
weighing , and adds: (,
) ,
, which gives 631,150 grains
(light standard). The talent was afterwards regarded as=125 librae=631,665 grains
(Enc. Bibl. col. 4444). Striking a mean between these estimates we get a talent of
636,271 grains. , though . . in the Greek Bible, has good support in
the later Greek; cf. e.g. Polybius 9:41. 8 ,
; Josephus, B. J. 5. 6. 3 ; a
comic author quoted by Pollux (9:53) ventured to speak of .
A hail such as this was clearly a visitation on man; the weight of a single stone was
sufficient to kill anyone on whom it fell. Even the Egyptian hailstorm killed the
herdsmen in the open country; cf. Diod. Sic. 19:45 ,
, ,
, . But the moral effect was no
better than under the fourth and fifth plagues (v. 9 f.); once more there comes the terrible
refrain . Even Pharaoh had shewn signs of
repentance under the hail (Ex. 9:27), though he relapsed into impenitence as soon as it
had ceased; but the age of the last plague blasphemed while it suffered. Cf. Andreas:
,

 ,
.
] For the position of cf. Gen. 13:13,
Deut. 30:14, Jud. 12:2, 1 Regn. 12:18 (B), Ps. 118. (119.) 138, Mt. 19:25, 27:54, Acts
6:7, and see B.D.B. s.v.
.
1

1The Apocalypse of St. John ( ed. Henry Barclay Swete;, 2d. ed.; New York:
The Macmillan company, 1907), 197.