Revelation 16 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 95, near the end of the emperor Domitian's reign
Location
Written from Patmos in the Aegean Sea to churches in the Roman province of Asia
Audience
Seven Christian congregations in western Asia Minor under Roman rule
Situation
The seven angels pour out bowls of God's anger on the earth, sea, rivers, sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and finally the air. Kings gather at a place called Armageddon and a voice from the throne declares the sequence finished.
Key Background
The bowls deliberately echo the plagues on Egypt, including sores, water turned to blood, darkness, and hail, casting Rome in Pharaoh's role. The Euphrates was the frontier of the Roman empire, and Romans genuinely feared a Parthian invasion crossing it from the east, so a dried Euphrates opening a road for kings would have read as a live political nightmare. Armageddon most likely means the hill of Megiddo, a pass in northern Israel where several decisive battles in Israel's history were fought.
Then I heard a thundering voice from the of telling the seven angels, "Go — pour out the seven of onto the earth."
The first angel went and poured out his bowl onto the earth, and horrible, painful broke out on every person who carried the beast's and who worshiped its image.
The second angel poured out his bowl onto the sea, and it turned to something like the of a — thick and dark — and every living thing in the sea died.
The third angel poured out his bowl onto the rivers and of fresh water, and they turned to blood too.
Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "You are in making these judgments, you who are and who were, the
because they poured out the blood of and the blood of the and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve it."
And I heard the respond, "Yes, who all — your judgments are true and just."
The fourth angel poured out his bowl onto the sun, and the sun was the to burn people with scorching fire.
People were scorched by the intense heat, and they the name of God who had authority over these plagues — but they refused to their and give him
The fifth angel poured out his bowl onto the of the beast, and its was plunged into darkness. People gnawed on their tongues from the agony,
and they cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores — but they still refused to from what they were
The sixth angel poured out his bowl onto the great river and its water dried up to prepare the way for the from the
Then I saw three that looked like come out of the mouth of the out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the
These are that perform and they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the battle on the of who all
"Pay attention — I'm coming a The person who and their on is the one who will be glad — they won't be caught wandering around naked and exposed."
And the spirits gathered the kings together at the place called in Hebrew.
The seventh angel poured out his bowl the and a thundering voice came from the throne in the inner room of God's presence, saying, "It's
Then there were flashes of of a tremendous roar, and a — the worst since humanity has existed on the earth, so powerful, so violent.
The split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered the and made her drink from the with the of
Every and the mountains could no longer be found.
Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a fell from the sky onto people. And the people because of the of hail, because the was so unimaginably severe.