The angels take some action—perhaps bringing the trumpets to their lips—that signals to John that they are getting ready to blow their trumpets (verse 6). Who had the seven trumpets: in some languages it will be more natural to say “holding the seven trumpets.”

And there followed: after the trumpet blast the following things happened. Revised Standard Version is a bit awkward (and there followed); it is better to imitate Good News Translation, with a full stop and a new sentence, or to translate “and the following things happened at once.”

Hail and fire, mixed with blood: for hail and fire see the plague described in Exo 9.23-25 (see also Psa 18.12). Hail is frozen rain drops; in some languages a hailstorm is called a rain of rocks or stones. The fire may represent lightning (as lightning was part of the plague). The blood may be an allusion to the first plague (Exo 7.20). Ezek 38.22 speaks of hail, fire, and bloodshed.

Fell on the earth: in Greek the text says “was thrown (or, hurled) to the earth” (so New Revised Standard Version “and they were hurled to the earth”). The same verb occurs in verse 8. This seems to imply that God or an angel threw them down on the earth. In such a case a translator may render this whole clause as “And the angels hurled frozen rocks (or, hail) and fire mixed with blood down upon the earth.” This may be a vivid way of saying “fell suddenly” (also in verse 8).

The destruction caused by this disaster affected one third of the earth’s surface: one third of the trees was destroyed by fire, that is, the trees that grew in that one third part of the earth’s surface. All green grass is probably a way of saying “all plants,” “all vegetation” (since it would be hard to envision only the grass as such being destroyed, but not the smaller plants and shrubs). The text seems to say all the vegetation on earth was burned up, but it is quite certain that in this context the meaning is all the vegetation that grew on that same one third section of the earth’s surface was destroyed. In certain languages the passive expression was burnt up may be avoided by saying something like “suffer burn completely.”

An alternative translation model for the latter part of this verse is:

• The fire burned up a third part of the earth, destroying all the trees and vegetation on that part.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .