Revelation 16:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

NIV: The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

NASB: The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.

CSB: The second poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.

NLT: Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea died.

KJV: And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

NKJV: Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

The second angel empties his bowl into the sea and the sea becomes a putrefying mass. This verse describes the sea as "like the blood of a corpse." This is an unusually specific reference, meaning the writer has in mind a body that's been dead for some time. Whatever happens to the water, it becomes like the rotting fluids found in a decomposing body. As a result, everything in the sea dies.

When God struck ancient Egypt with plagues, He turned the Nile into blood (Exodus 7:19–21), but this second bowl judgment is more widespread; the language used here suggests it might pollute all oceanic bodies of water. Further, the second bowl judgment is far more intense than the second trumpet judgment that turned one third of the sea into blood and killed one third of marine life (Revelation 8:8–9). It seems the trumpet judgments expand the seal judgments, and the bowl judgments expand the trumpet judgments. Each series of judgments is more intense than the previous series. Everything is moving toward a climax, when Jesus returns to earth to capture the beast and the false prophet and cast them into the lake of fire.

No doubt, this judgment cripples the beast's shipping and fishing industries. The effects of this judgment would be even further reaching than simple commerce. A massive change in ocean waters can have a drastic effect on weather and rain. Also, if "everything" living in the oceans were to die, it would remove a primary food source for the entire world. Even more dire, ocean plants produce most of the oxygen in the atmosphere. The death of everything in the oceans would start a countdown to the extinction of all life on earth.

Revelation 16:1–7 reports the beginning of the bowl judgments which were predicted in Revelation 15:5–8. The first and second judgments resemble the plague of boils and the plague of blood that God brought upon the Egyptians when Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews leave Egypt (Exodus 7:19–21; 9:8–12). The third judgment turns the water sources into blood. The second and third judgments resemble the third trumpet judgment (Revelation 8:8), but their intensity is greater. A break occurs in 16:5–7 as an angel reflects on the first three bowl judgment and affirms that God is just to judge the wicked.

This chapter explains the bowl judgments, which are the last and most severe of God's outpouring of wrath on earth. The first three bowls bring sores, seas of blood, and rivers of blood. After a declaration of God's justice come the next three bowl judgments, involving scorching sunlight, darkness, and a drying of the Euphrates to clear the way for an invading army. In the final, seventh bowl judgment, an earthquake tears Jerusalem into three parts, levels cities worldwide, and displaces islands and mountains. Hundred-pound hailstones fall, but unbelievers refuse to repent and instead continue to curse God.

Revelation 16 resumes the account of God's judgments on the wicked. It describes the bowl judgments, the third and final series of judgments. The seven seal judgments of Revelation 6:1–17 and 8:1 are the first series of judgments. The trumpet judgments of Revelation 8:1—9:21 and 11:15 are next. All of these judgments vent God's wrath and are recognized as the day of his wrath and the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:17). Chapters 17 and 18 further describe the destruction caused by the judgments. Revelation 19 and 20 will describe the culmination of God's wrath and the final events of the end times.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''