Devine Scripture

Revelation 16:3

What does Revelation 16:3 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 16:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 16:3 means

The second bowl devastates the sea, turning it into blood like that of a corpse—thick, lifeless, repellent. As a result, every living creature in the sea dies. The ocean, a source of commerce, food, and travel, becomes a vast cemetery. This is a deliberate unmaking of what God once filled with life. The judgment is not symbolic only; its imagery conveys a real, comprehensive ruin that touches global systems. It also answers the violence of the beast’s empire: the sea, often associated with tumultuous powers, is stilled in death. The world’s vastness cannot shield it; even the deep is subject to the Lord’s word.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And the second let what was in his vessel come out into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea came to an end.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

And the second messenger did pour out his vial to the sea, and there came blood as of <FI>one<Fi> dead, and every living soul died in the sea.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

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

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And the second poured out his bowl on the sea; and it became blood, as of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.

Context

After the first bowl afflicted worshipers personally, this second strike reaches into creation’s largest realm. The flow of the chapter moves outward, revealing that no sphere remains untouched when God judges. This prepares the reader for the third bowl, which carries the same blood-judgment into the freshwater supplies. Together, the second and third bowls echo the Exodus plagues and set up a heavenly explanation in verses 5–7 that God’s judgments are righteous and precisely fitted to human bloodshed.

v.2And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and that worshipped his image.

v.3This passage

v.4And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood.

Cross references

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

  • Genesis 7:22

    all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.

  • Revelation 10:2

    and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth;

  • Revelation 13:1

    and he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.

  • Revelation 11:6

    These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire.

  • Psalms 105:29

    He turned their waters into blood, And slew their fish.

  • Revelation 8:8

    And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

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