to pour forth · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
vial
φιάληνphialēn
G5357
a broad shallow cup ("phial") · noun — accusative singular feminine
upon
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
sea
θάλασσαν,thalassan
G2281
the sea (genitive case or specially) · noun — accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
became
ἐγένετοegeneto
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
as
ὡςhōs
G5613
which how · particle
blood
αἷμαhaima
G129
blood · noun — nominative singular neuter
dead
νεκροῦ,nekrou
G3498
dead (literally or figuratively · adjective — genitive singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
every
πᾶσαpasa
G3956
all · adjective — nominative singular feminine
living
ζάωzáō
G2198
to live (literally or figuratively)
soul
ψυχὴpsuchē
G5590
breath · noun — nominative singular feminine
died
ἀπέθανενapethanen
G599
to die off (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
sea
θαλάσσῃ.¶thalassē
G2281
the sea (genitive case or specially) · noun — dative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 7:17-21 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters whic…
Revelation 8:8-9 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…
Revelation 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to sm…
Psalms 78:44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
Psalms 105:29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.
Genesis 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
Ezekiel 16:38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
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 foot on the earth,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 16:1-7
We had in the foregoing chapter the great and solemn preparation that was made for the pouring out of the vials; now we have the performance of that work. Here observe,
I. That, though every thing was made ready before, yet nothing was to be put in execution without an immediate positive order from God; and this he gave out of the temple, answering the prayers of his people, and avenging their quarrel.
II. No sooner was the word of command given than it was immediately obeyed; no delay, no objection made. We find that some of the best men, as Moses and Jeremiah, did not so readily come in and comply with the call of God to their work; but the angels of God excel not only in strength, but in…
angel--So B and ANDREAS. But A, C, and Vulgate omit it.
upon--Greek, "into."
became as . . . blood--answering to another Egyptian plague.
of a dead man--putrefying.
living soul--So B and ANDREAS. But A, C, and Syriac, "soul of life" (compare Gen 1:30; Gen 7:21-22).
in the sea--So B and ANDREAS. But A, C, and Syriac read, "(as respects) the things in the sea."
Adam Clarke on Revelation 16:3
As the blood of a dead man - Either meaning blood in a state of putrescency, or an effusion of blood in naval conflicts; even the sea was tinged with the blood of those who were slain in these wars. This is most probably the meaning of this vial. These engagements were so sanguinary that both the conquerors and the conquered were nearly destroyed; every living soul died in the sea.
John Gill on Revelation 16:3
And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea,.... Not literally; and so does not design the stagnation of it, which it is thought will be before the general conflagration; see Amos 7:4 nor is it to be understood of the sea of this world, and the men of it, who are like a troubled sea; but rather of Popish doctrines and councils, which are a sea of errors, and will now be confuted and put an end to. Brightman applies it to the council of Trent, and makes this angel to be Chemnitius, a German divine, who wrote a confutation of it; but as the sea is a collection of many waters, and many waters in this book signify the people and nations under the Romish yoke, sea here may design the wh…
The Church Fathers
The blood of the sea and waters plainly indicate the killings of those encamped near the waters in land battles, as is natural.
And the second poured out his bowl on the sea, etc. Those who are not only marked with the character of the Antichrist but also attack the stability of Christ's servants with the waves of bitter persecution will be punished with a spiritual vengeance, which he calls blood; and those who boasted of living will be proven to have served the author of death.
It is not surprising that to expose the weakness of the antichrist and the light-mindedness of the deceived, the divine power would through the holy prophets, Enoch and Elijah, change the sea into "blood as of a dead man," that is, as of one who had been slain, and would effect the corruption of all in it, just as long ago in Egypt he worked through Moses to expose the hardheartedness of Pharaoh and to demonstrate his own power. And therefore, those who were of secure faith were strengthened and the unstable were made fearful, seeing the creation arrayed against those who fought for the honor of the destroyer. It is also possible that through these words the slaughters that will happen in wars at the coming [of the antichrist] are indicated. For when Gog and Magog will move against each other in the four parts of the world and, in addition, the kings who had not obeyed will be annihilated with their whole armies and there will be slaughter in every place, then the sea will be defiled by sea battles, and the rivers will be mingled with the blood of those who were killed there.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Sea · .In — .In
Water · Turned into blood — Turned into blood
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The plagues of the second and third bowls are similar to the first plague of Egypt (Exod 7:17-21). Perhaps John had in mind that much of Rome’s food and wealth came by sea. After Julius Caesar rid the sea of pirates, shipping became Rome’s lifeblood. Its end would mean economic death for the empire (see Rev 18:17-19).
