Paragraph 8:7

8:7a

Then the first angel sounded his trumpet: The Greek clause is literally “The first trumpeted.” It indicates that the first of the seven angels blew his trumpet. For example:

The first blew his trumpet (New Jerusalem Bible)

8:7b

and hail and fire mixed with blood: The Greek clause is literally “hail and fire mixed with blood occurred/happened.” It refers to the hail, fire, and blood appearing. For example:

Hail and fire mingled with blood appeared (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

hail and fire mixed with blood: The Greek phrase indicates that both the hail and the fire were mixed with the blood. For example:

hail and fire both mixed with blood

hail: The word hail refers to frozen rain. A piece of hail can be as small as a raindrop or bigger than a fist. Some languages do not have a word for hail. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:

frozen rain
-or-
rain turned to ice
-or-
balls of ice
-or-
cold, hard rain

• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:

The word “hail” refers to frozen rain. A piece of hail can be as small as a raindrop or bigger than a fist.

8:7c

were hurled down: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. God probably ordered someone to hurl the hail and fire. For example:

⌊someone⌋ threw it

General Comment on 8:7b–c

Two verbs affect the hail and fire. First John sees them (the hail and fire “appeared”), then he saw them thrown to the earth. The second verb emphasizes the fact that God caused this disaster of hail and fire. In some languages the first verb may not be needed for the correct meaning. For example:

hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth (New Living Translation (2004))

8:7d–f

A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass: These three clauses are passive. Some languages must use other kinds of clauses. For example:

⌊The fire⌋ burned a third of the earth, ⌊it⌋ burned a third of the trees, and ⌊it⌋ burned all the green grass.
-or-

⌊The fire⌋ burned a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all the green grass.
-or-
A third of the land burned, a third of the trees burned, and all the green grass burned.

A third of the earth…along with a third of the trees: Here the word third means “one part out of three parts.” For example, in a group of three hundred areas of land, one hundred of them burned. Other ways to translate these clauses are:

one ⌊plot⌋ in three ⌊plots⌋ of land…one tree in three
-or-
one of every three lands/areas of all the earth…one of every three trees
-or-
of all the parcels of land on the earth one parcel burned and two parcels did not burn…of all the trees one burned and two did not burn

the earth: Here the phrase the earth refers to the land.

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