Revelation Chapter 16 verse 4 Holy Bible
And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood.
read chapter 16 in ASV
And the third let what was in his vessel come out into the rivers and the fountains of water; and they became blood.
read chapter 16 in BBE
And the third poured out his bowl on the rivers, and [on] the fountains of waters; and they became blood.
read chapter 16 in DARBY
And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
read chapter 16 in KJV
read chapter 16 in WBT
The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
read chapter 16 in WEB
And the third messenger did pour out his vial to the rivers, and to the fountains of the waters, and there came blood,
read chapter 16 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. Omit "angel" (see on ver. 3). "Into the rivers," etc., as in the previous cases. The singular ἐγένετο, probably on account of the neuter ψ῞δατα being understood. The idea of the second vial is carried on here (cf. on ver. 3). Note the corresponding judgment of the third trumpet. In addition to the interpretation of the second vial given above, it is probable that the blood signifies the slaughter and death which is part of God's vengeance on the wicked (cf. ver. 6). The divisions adopted in the first four vials correspond to those in Revelation 14, which designate the whole of God's created world, "heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) And the third angel . . .--The third vial resembles the second in its effects. As it is poured out on the rivers and springs of waters, they become blood. It is not only the great sea which becomes blood, but all the merry streams and babbling brooks which carry their tribute of water seawards also turn corrupt. And this plague is acknowledged by heavenly voices as a just retribution (Revelation 16:5-7). The streams and rivers feed the sea; they are the powers and influences which go to the making up of the great popular sentiment; these are smitten by the same corruption. Men cannot worship worldliness or earthliness without degrading even those who contribute to their instruction, their recreations, and their joys, to the same level. When the public taste grows corrupt, the literature will, for example, become so in a more or less degree; the up-flowing tide will colour the down-coming stream. "The morality of a nation's art," writes a modern critic. "always rises to the level of morality in a nation's manners. Morality takes care of itself, and always revenges any outrage which art may put upon its laws by either lowering the art that so offends, or extinguishing it" (Dallas, Gay Science, Vol. II., 16). It is true in even a wider sense. The loftier powers of imagination, the range of poetical elevation, are cramped and killed in a base, world-worshipping age. The streams of life grow putrid, the fresh and bright gifts of God are polluted, when the ocean of public thought is unwholesome.
