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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Revelation 16:1

I heard a shout of command from the Temple to the Seven Angels: "Begin! Pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on earth!"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Temple;   Thompson Chain Reference - Vials;   The Topic Concordance - Worship;   Wrath;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Angels;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Babylon;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Apocalyptic;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Order;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Plagues;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Antichrist;   Plagues of Egypt;   Vial;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Angels;   Bowl;   Voice;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Temple, the;   Vials;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Vial;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
King James Version (1611)
And I heard a great voyce out of the Temple, saying to the seuen Angels, Goe your wayes, and powre out the vials of the wrath of God vpon the earth.
King James Version
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
New American Standard Bible
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
New Century Version
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 on the earth."
English Standard Version
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
Berean Standard Bible
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God's wrath."
Contemporary English Version
From the temple I heard a voice shout to the seven angels, "Go and empty the seven bowls of God's anger on the earth."
Complete Jewish Bible
I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary say to the seven angels, "Go, and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God's fury!"
Darby Translation
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of the fury of God upon the earth.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple. It said to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's anger on the earth."
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I heard a great voyce out of the Temple, saying to the seuen Angels, Go your wayes, and powre out the seuen vials of the wrath of God vpon the earth.
George Lamsa Translation
AND I heard a great voice saying the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Good News Translation
Then I heard a loud voice speaking from the temple to the seven angels: "Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's anger on the earth!"
Lexham English Bible
And I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
Literal Translation
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels: Go and pour out the bowls of the anger of God onto the earth.
Amplified Bible
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath and indignation of God."
American Standard Version
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.
Bible in Basic English
And a great voice out of the house of God came to my ears, saying to the seven angels, Go, and let that which is in the seven vessels of the wrath of God come down on the earth.
Hebrew Names Version
I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the eretz!"
International Standard Version
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth."Revelation 14:10;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
AND I heard a great voice [fn] saying to the seven angels, Go, and pour forth the seven vials of the wrath of Aloha upon the earth.
Murdock Translation
And I heard a voice, which said to the seven angels: Go forth, and pour those seven cups of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And I hearde a great voyce out of the temple, saying to ye seuen angels: Go your wayes, powre out your vials of wrath vpon the earth.
English Revised Version
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.
World English Bible
I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!"
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go, pour out the seven phials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Weymouth's New Testament
Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary say to the seven angels, "Go and pour on to the earth the seven bowls of the anger of God."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y herde a greet vois fro heuene, seiynge to the seuene aungels, Go ye, and schede out the seuene viols of Goddis wraththe in to erthe.
Update Bible Version
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
New English Translation
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple declaring to the seven angels: "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God's wrath."
New King James Version
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls [fn] of the wrath of God on the earth."
New Living Translation
Then I heard a mighty voice from the Temple say to the seven angels, "Go your ways and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God's wrath."
New Life Bible
Then I heard a loud voice coming from the house of God. The voice said to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven jars of God's anger onto the earth!"
New Revised Standard
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And I heard aloud voice, out of the sanctuary, saying unto the seven messengers - Go, and be pouring out the seven bowls of the wrath of God unto the earth.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels: Go and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Revised Standard Version
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And I herde a great voyce out of ye temple sayinge to the seven angels: goo youre wayes poure out youre vialles of wrath apon the erth.
Young's Literal Translation
And I heard a great voice out of the sanctuary saying to the seven messengers, `Go away, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God to the earth;'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And I herde a greate voyce out of the temple, sayenge to the seuen angels: go youre wayes, poure out youre vialles of wrath vpon the earth.
Mace New Testament (1729)
THEN I heard a terrible voice from the temple, crying to the seven angels, "go pour out the VIALS of divine vengeance upon the earth."
Simplified Cowboy Version
Then a voice echoed throughout heaven and said, "Release God's anger on the earth!"

Contextual Overview

1 I heard a shout of command from the Temple to the Seven Angels: "Begin! Pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on earth!" 2 The first Angel stepped up and poured his bowl out on earth: Loathsome, stinking sores erupted on all who had taken the mark of the Beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second Angel poured his bowl on the sea: The sea coagulated into blood, and everything in it died. 4The third Angel poured his bowl on rivers and springs: The waters turned to blood. I heard the Angel of Waters say, Righteous you are, and your judgments are righteous, The Is, The Was, The Holy. They poured out the blood of saints and prophets so you've given them blood to drink— they've gotten what they deserve! Just then I heard the Altar chime in, Yes, O God, the Sovereign-Strong! Your judgments are true and just!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I heard: Revelation 14:15, Revelation 14:18, Revelation 15:5-8

the seven: Revelation 15:1, Revelation 15:6

and pour: Revelation 16:2-12, Revelation 16:17, Revelation 14:9-11, Revelation 15:7, 1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 15:18, Ezekiel 9:5-8, Ezekiel 10:2, Matthew 13:41, Matthew 13:42

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:13 - Lord hath Joshua 6:4 - seven times Psalms 69:24 - Pour Psalms 79:6 - Pour Isaiah 25:5 - shalt bring Isaiah 30:25 - in the day Isaiah 42:25 - he hath poured Jeremiah 6:11 - I will Jeremiah 7:20 - Behold Jeremiah 14:16 - for Ezekiel 20:21 - I would Ezekiel 22:22 - ye shall know Ezekiel 30:15 - I will pour Ezekiel 36:18 - I poured Ezekiel 43:6 - I heard Nahum 1:6 - his fury Zechariah 14:12 - the plague wherewith 1 Corinthians 10:10 - destroyer Revelation 8:2 - seven angels Revelation 8:5 - and filled Revelation 11:14 - General Revelation 11:18 - and thy Revelation 14:16 - thrust Revelation 14:17 - came Revelation 17:8 - go Revelation 21:9 - which Revelation 22:18 - God

Cross-References

Genesis 11:30
Sarai was barren; she had no children.
Genesis 12:16
Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. But God hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram's wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.
Genesis 16:3
So Sarai, Abram's wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place. He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.
Genesis 16:9
The angel of God said, "Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse." He continued, "I'm going to give you a big family, children past counting. From this pregnancy, you'll get a son: Name him Ishmael; for God heard you, God answered you. He'll be a bucking bronco of a man, a real fighter, fighting and being fought, Always stirring up trouble, always at odds with his family."
Genesis 25:21
Isaac prayed hard to God for his wife because she was barren. God answered his prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children tumbled and kicked inside her so much that she said, "If this is the way it's going to be, why go on living?" She went to God to find out what was going on. God told her, Two nations are in your womb, two peoples butting heads while still in your body. One people will overpower the other, and the older will serve the younger.
Judges 13:2
At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless. The angel of God appeared to her and told her, "I know that you are barren and childless, but you're going to become pregnant and bear a son. But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean. You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God's Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression."
Luke 1:36
"And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I heard a great voice out of the temple,.... The church, which in the preceding chapter is said to be opened; this was either the voice of God, whose temple the church is, and where he dwells, and who, has power over these plagues, Revelation 16:9 and who, when he is about to bring judgments on the earth, is said to roar out of Zion, Revelation 16:16 or of Christ, who is always in the midst of his church and people, and whose voice is as the voice of many waters; see Revelation 16:15 or it may be of one of the four living creatures, the ministers of the word, in and by whom Christ often speaks; and the rather, since one of these gave the seven angels the golden vials of the wrath of God, they are now bid to pour out.

Saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth; for though these angels had the seven last plagues to inflict, and the seven vials of God's wrath to pour out, and were in a readiness to do it, yet they did not move without an order, which is here given them; and they are bid to go their ways, from the temple, the church, where they were, and of which they were members, to the several parts of the antichristian empire; and there pour out all the wrath and vengeance of God upon his enemies, and theirs, and leave nothing behind, but give them the dregs of every cup of his fury: the earth here is to be taken in a larger sense than in the following verse, and includes the land and sea, the fountains and rivers, and even the ambient air, and also the sun in the firmament, as the pouring out of these vials upon them show; and designs the whole apostate church, consisting of earthly men, all the inhabitants of the earth, that worship the beast. The Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and the Complutensian edition, read, "the seven vials of the wrath of God"; these seven vials are not contemporary, much less the same with the seven trumpets; there is indeed a likeness between them in some things, especially in the first four; for as the first four trumpets affect the earth, the sea, the fountains, and rivers of water, and the sun, so the first four vials are poured out on the same, and that in the same order; first on the earth, and then on the sea, c. and which will give some light, and be a direction to observe the several parts of the antichristian empire, which will suffer by these vials, and the in which their ruin will proceed and as the trumpets were so many gradual steps to the ruin of the Roman empire, eastern and western, when become Christian, so these vials are so many gradual steps to, and which issue in the ruin of, both the eastern and western antichrist; though they do not respect the same things, nor the same times: the trumpets respect the Roman empire as Christian, under the government of emperors, after the downfall of Paganism in it; and the vials respect the antichristian powers in their several branches, under the pope and Turk. Antichrist did not appear until the fifth trumpet sounded, whereas the first vial is poured out upon his followers and worshippers, Revelation 16:2 from whence it is a clear point, that the first trumpet and the first vial cannot be contemporary; and the same judgment may be made of the rest: and it may be further observed, that these vials are only poured out on the enemies of God and of Christ, and of his church and people; for no wrath can be poured out upon the saints, not the least drop of it can fall upon them; this would not be consistent with God's everlasting love to them, with the satisfaction of Christ made for them, nor with the blessings of justification, pardon, adoption, c. bestowed on them not but that they may meet with trouble in the of these vials, through the wars that will be in the world, and through the struggles of the beast of Rome, especially its last, which will be the hour of temptation, and that time of trouble than which never was the like; yet all will work for, and issue in their good, and they will rejoice in God's righteous judgments; the blow will be upon antichrist, the vengeance of God will fall upon those that have the mark of the beast, and the worshippers of his image, upon the seat of the beast, even upon Babylon, and the whole Romish jurisdiction, as appears from

Revelation 16:2 and also upon the Turkish empire, and all the nations engaged in the interest of both pope and Turk, Revelation 16:12 and it is easy to observe, that there is in many of these vials an allusion to the plagues of Egypt; in the first, Revelation 16:2 to the plague of boils, Exodus 9:8 in the second and third, Revelation 16:3 to that of turning the waters of Egypt into blood, Exodus 7:19 in the fourth, Revelation 16:10 to the darkness that was over all the land of Egypt, Exodus 10:21 and in the fifth there is a manifest reference to the frogs that distressed the Egyptians, Exodus 8:5 and in the seventh, to the plague of hail, Exodus 9:23 and they have much the same effect, even the hardening of those on whom they fall, being far from being brought to repentance by them, Revelation 16:9 and this confirms the application of the vials to the destruction of Rome, which is spiritually called Egypt, Revelation 11:8 and may assure that they will issue in the ruin of antichrist, and in the salvation of God's people, as the plagues of Egypt did in the destruction of Pharaoh, and in the deliverance of the children of Israel; and may also lead us to conclude, that there will be a like quick execution of the one as of the other; for as the plagues of Egypt came very quick one after another, so it seems as if the pouring out of these vials would be in like manner; the angels receive them together, and have their orders at the same time; and they go forth immediately, one after another, if not together, to the respective parts where they are to pour them forth, and which they do directly; see Revelation 16:8. Moreover, these vials will affect antichrist both with respect to his civil and ecclesiastic capacity, or both in temporals and spirituals, and, both antichrists, eastern and western: whether they are begun to be poured out or not, is a question. I am ready to think they are not, because they seem to me to refer to the seventh trumpet, which as yet has not sounded, and are the same with the wrath of God, and the time of the judging the dead, or avenging the blood of the saints, which will be come when that sounds, Revelation 11:18. Besides, the outer court is not entirely given to the Gentiles, nor the witnesses slain, which must be before this time of wrath upon antichrist; not but that there has been some manifest marks of the divine displeasure upon the whore of Rome, and she has been sinking ever since the Reformation, at which time some begin these vials, or before; and she is reduced to a low estate; yet I think not to such a degree as these vials express.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I heard a great voice out of the temple - A loud voice out of the temple as seen in heaven (notes on Revelation 11:19), and that came, therefore, from the very presence of God.

Saying to the seven angels - That had the seven vials of wrath. See the notes on Revelation 15:1, Revelation 15:7.

Go your ways - Your respective ways, to the fulfillment of the task assigned to each.

And pour out the vials of the wrath of God - Empty those vials; cause to come upon the earth the plagues indicated by their contents. The order in which this was to be done is not intimated. It seems to be supposed that that would be understood by each.

Upon the earth - The particular part of the earth is not here specified, but it should not be inferred that it was to be upon the earth in general, or that there were any calamities, in consequence of this pouring out of the vials of wrath, to spread over the whole world. The subsequent statements show what parts of the earth were particularly to be affected.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XVI.

The angels are commanded to pour out their vials upon the

earth, 1.

The first pours out his vial on the earth, by which a grievous

sore is produced, 2.

The second angel pours out his trial on the sea, and it is

turned into blood, 3.

The third angel pours out his vial on the rivers and fountains,

and they are turned also into blood, 4-7.

The fourth angel pours out his vial on the sun, and men are

scorched with fire, 8, 9.

The fifth angel pours out his vial on the throne of the beast,

10, 11.

The sixth angel pours out his vial on the river Euphrates, 12.

Three unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the beast, dragon

and false prophet: and go forth to gather all the kings of the

world to battle, in the place called Armageddon, 13-16.

The seventh angel pours out his vial on the air, on which

followed thunders, lightnings, earth-quakes, and extraordinary

hail, 17-21.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVI.

Verse Revelation 16:1. Go your ways, and pour out — These ministers of the Divine justice were ready to execute vengeance upon transgressors, having full power; but could do nothing in this way till they received especial commission. Nothing can be done without the permission of God; and in the manifestation of justice or mercy by Divine agency, there must be positive command.


 
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