King James Version · Under Rome
Revelation 8
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And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven which stood before ; and to them were given seven . And another came and stood at the , having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much , that he should offer it with the prayers of all upon the golden which was before . And the smoke of the , which came with the prayers of , ascended up before out of ’s hand. And took the censer, and filled it with of the , and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven which had the seven prepared themselves to sound. The first sounded, and there followed hail and mingled with , and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became ; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, ; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third sounded, and there fell a great star from , burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men of the waters, because they were made bitter. And the fourth sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard flying through the midst of , saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the of the three , which are yet to sound!
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.