Revelation 8

Revelation 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate. In verse 1, the opening of the seventh seal concludes a section beginning in chapter 6 which records the opening of the "Seven Seals". Verses 2-13 and chapters 9 to 11 contain an account relating to the sounding of the "Seven Trumpets". In chapter 8, the first four angels' trumpets are sounded. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 13 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others: Papyrus 115 (ca. AD 275; extant verses 3–8, 11–13) Codex Sinaiticus (330-360) Codex Alexandrinus (400-440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (ca. 450; extant verses 1–4) When He (the Lamb) opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. "The silence in heaven, lasting about a half-hour, begins at the place where the songs of praise still resound ()." The Expanded Bible describes the silence as "a dramatic pause induced by awe". Silence in the presence of God is evoked by several of the minor prophets: Habakkuk 2:20, and . And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. "The seven angels who stand before God": Heinrich Meyer notes that these are "seven particular angels, not called 'archangels', who, with a certain precedency above all the rest, stand before God". In the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, Raphael introduces himself as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord". W. H. Simcox, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges commentary, suggests that the passage in Tobit bears reference to "a popular Jewish belief as to these Angels" and that "St John’s vision is expressed in terms of that belief and, it may fairly be thought, sanctions it with his prophetic authority".