Devine Scripture

Revelation 16:20

What does Revelation 16:20 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 16:20 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 16:20 means

The earthquake’s reach extends to the world’s very shape: “every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” Landmarks once thought immovable are gone. This is un-creation, the undoing of stability that people assume will always be there. No refuge remains in remote places or high places when God rises to judge. By stripping away the terrain’s permanence, the vision shows the perishable nature of all creation under sin’s curse and the futility of seeking safety apart from the Lord who made and now shakes the earth.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And every island went in flight, and the mountains were seen no longer.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and every island did flee away, and mountains were not found,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And every island fled away: and the mountains were not found.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And every island fled, and mountains were not found;

Context

After the fall of cities and the targeting of Babylon, the judgment touches geography itself. The narrative leaves no place to hide—sea, land, and sky have all been affected by the bowls. The chapter culminates with one more devastating phenomenon: an immense hailstorm. As before, the human response is emphasized, not as repentance, but as stubborn blasphemy, closing the cycle on the same tragic note heard earlier.

v.19And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

v.20This passage

v.21And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Jeremiah 4:23

    I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

  • Revelation 6:14

    And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

  • Revelation 20:11

    And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

  • Isaiah 2:14

    and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

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