Devine Scripture

Revelation 8:11

What does Revelation 8:11 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 8:11 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 8:11 means

The star is called Wormwood. A third of the waters become wormwood—bitter—and many die from drinking. Wormwood evokes intense bitterness; here it signifies judgment that turns life’s necessities into agents of death. People perish not by lack alone but by corruption of what should refresh. The text avoids curiosity about identity and presses the moral gravity: God’s retribution is bitter, fitting a world that has embraced what is not sweet to Him. Yet even now, only a third is struck—God warns and restrains. The verse teaches that created gifts cannot save when the Giver judges, and that sin’s end is often bitterness to those who drink it down.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And the name of the star is Wormwood: and a third part of the waters became bitter; and a number of men came to their end because of the waters, for they were made bitter.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and the name of the star is called Wormwood, and the third of the waters doth become wormwood, and many of the men did die of the waters, because they were made bitter.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood. And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many of the men died of the waters because they were made bitter.

Context

Verse 11 interprets and intensifies the previous verse by naming the agent and spelling out the human toll. With land, sea, and fresh water all judged, the sequence now turns upward. The fourth trumpet will dim the luminaries, completing the first set of four environmental judgments. This movement—from ground to sea to springs to sky—reads like a solemn undoing of order, preparing the reader for the next phase, where a heavenly herald announces that far worse is yet to come.

v.10And the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of the waters;

v.11This passage

v.12And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like manner.

Cross references

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

  • Deuteronomy 29:18

    lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

  • Proverbs 5:4

    But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

  • Exodus 15:23

    And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

  • Hebrews 12:15

    looking carefully lestthere beany man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled;

  • Revelation 8:7

    And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and 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.

  • Jeremiah 23:15

    Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.

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