The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters.
Parallel translations
- WEB The name of the star is called “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
- KJV And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
- NKJV The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
- NASB The star is named Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.
- NLT The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The third trumpet brings a star called Wormwood that poisons a third of fresh water, killing many. It pictures God turning a vital source of life bitter as a judgment on a rebellious world.
Overview
Following the first two trumpets, the third strikes the rivers and springs, the supply of fresh water. "Wormwood" names a bitter plant associated in the Old Testament with sorrow and judgment (Jeremiah 9:15; Lamentations 3:19). Echoing the plagues on Egypt where water was made undrinkable, the vision warns that those who reject God find even life's blessings turned to death. It points ahead to the gospel offer of living water (John 4; Revelation 22:17) freely given to the thirsty in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 23:15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
- Jer 9:15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
- Deut 29:18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,
- Prov 5:4in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
- Amos 6:12“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
- Amos 5:7There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
- Lam 3:19Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
- Ruth 1:20“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me.
- Heb 12:15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- Lam 3:5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
- Exod 15:23And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
- Rev 8:7Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 8:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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