Revelation 8:7

The First Trumpet, Revelation 8:7

7. The first angel Read, And the first.

hail and fire mingled with blood Cf. Exodus 9:24: but here the bloodmarks the plague as more terrible, and more distinctly miraculous. "The stones of hail and the balls of fire fell in a shower of blood, just as hail and fire balls commonly fall in a shower of rain." (Alford).

the third part Read, The third part of the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. It is certainly a feature to be noticed in the first four trumpets, as contrasted (see on Revelation 6:9) with the last three, that they introduce plagues (i), on the powers of nature only, not on men, and (ii) that on these the plague stops short of entire destruction. But no plausible explanation has been given of the destruction of a third part(cf. Revelation 6:8): still less can any reason be given why allgreen grass is destroyed, apparently not a third part only. The former feature is perhapsto be illustrated by Ezekiel 5:2; Zechariah 13:8-9.