to stand (transitively or intransitively) · verb — perfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
before
ἐνώπιονenōpion
G1799
in the face of (literally or figuratively) · preposition
God
θεοῦtheou
G2316
figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
them
αὐτοῖςautois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
given
ἐδόθησανedothēsan
G1325
to give (used in a very wide application · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural
seven
ἑπτὰhepta
G2033
seven · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
trumpets
σάλπιγγες.¶salpinges
G4536
a trumpet · noun — nominative plural 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
Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee the…
Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord…
Amos 3:6-8 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Fath…
Revelation 8:6-9:1 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
2 Chronicles 29:25-28 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of…
Revelation 9:13-14 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Revelation 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of Go…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 8:1-6
In these verses we have the prelude to the sounding of the trumpets in several parts.
I. The opening of the last seal. This was to introduce a new set of prophetical iconisms and events; there is a continued chain of providence, one part linked to another (where one ends another begins), and, though they may differ in nature and in time, they all make up one wise, well-connected, uniform design in the hand of God.
II. A profound silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, which may be understood either, 1. Of the silence of peace, that for this time no complaints were sent up to the ear of the Lord God of sabaoth; all was quiet and well in the church, and therefore all silent in heaven,…
the seven angels--Compare the apocryphal Tobit 12:15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." Compare Luk 1:19, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God."
stood--Greek, "stand."
seven trumpets--These come in during the time while the martyrs rest until their fellow servants also, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled; for it is the inhabiters of the earth on whom the judgments fall, on whom also the martyrs prayed that they should fall (Rev 6:10). All the ungodly, and not merely some one portion of them, are meant, all the opponents and obstacles in the way of…
The seven angels which stood before God - Probably the same as those called the seven Spirits which are before his throne, Rev 1:4 (note). There is still an allusion here to the seven ministers of the Persian monarchs. See Tobit 12:15.
John Gill on Revelation 8:2
And I saw the seven angels,.... Not the seven spirits of God, Revelation 1:4; their names, as well as their office, differ; nor the ministers of the word, though these are often called angels in this book, and blow the trumpet of the Gospel, and lift up their voice like a trumpet; but the angelic spirits, and these either evil ones, since they are the executioners of wrath and vengeance, and bring judgments on the earth; and who, are sometimes said to stand before God, 1 Kings 22:21; or rather good angels, who are sometimes ministers of divine wrath; see 2 Samuel 24:16; "seven" of them are mentioned, as being a proper number for the blowing of the seven trumpets, which would complete all the…
The Church Fathers
In the seven angels we shall recognize again the church according to that rule that indicates that universality is often to be acknowledged in the number seven. [The church] is said to have received a most powerful trumpet of proclamation by which she is strong and by which, we believe, every age comes to faith. For we read, "Life up your voice like a trumpet."
Then it is said that seven trumpets were given to the seven angels so that they might sound them as a king takes his place. With these same trumpets, the dead were also about to be awakened; for the wise apostle to the Thessalonians, writing about divine matters, says in the first epistle that "the Lord Himself will descend with a command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." (1 Thess. 4:16) And again, he says, "for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible." (1 Cor. 15:52)
And I saw seven angels standing before God, etc. The Church, often commended by the number seven, is devoted to the duty of preaching, the first trumpet signifying the common destruction of the impious by fire and hail; the second, the devil expelled from the Church, more fervently inflaming the sea of the world; the third, heretics falling away from the Church, corrupting the rivers of the Holy Scripture; the fourth, the downfall of false brethren in the obscuration of the stars; the fifth, the greater infestation of heretics preceding the time of the Antichrist; the sixth, the open war of the Antichrist and his followers against the Church, and, by recapitulation from the coming of the Lord, the insertion of the destruction of the same adversary; the seventh, the day of judgment, when the Lord will render the reward to His own and will destroy those who have corrupted the earth.
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
Trumpets — Were of a great variety of forms, and were made of divers materials. Some were made of silver (Num. 10:2), and were used only by the priests in announcing the approach of festivals and in giving…
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).
This scene of preparation in heaven introduces the seven trumpets of judgment and continues the theme of God’s receiving and answering prayer (5:8; 6:9-11).
8:2 The dramatic sounding of trumpets by angels heralds an approaching end (see Isa 27:13; Zech 9:14; Matt 24:31; 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thes 4:16).
