The Revelation of St. John (1558) - Page 11

The angel sounded the trumpet; hail and fire were made, and a third part of the earth was burned up. Revelation 8.
original Latin: "Angelus tuba cecinit, facta est grando & ignis, tertia pars terrę concremata. Apocal. 8."

The angel sounds the trumpet; hail and fire burn the third part of the earth. Revelation 8.
original German: "Der Engel posaunet/ hagel vnd fewr verbrent das drittheyl der erden. Apo. 8."

angel, trumpet, hail, fire, Apocalypse/Revelation, third part

This illustration captures the sounding of the first trumpet, the initial blow in a series of divine judgments. While the previous page focused on the "silence in heaven" and the preparation of the seven angels, this scene brings the viewer down to earth.

An angel, positioned in the celestial realm among the clouds, blows a long, straight trumpet. From the heavens, a mixture of hail and fire (traditionally interpreted as being mingled with blood) rains down upon the landscape. The woodcut emphasizes the ecological scale of the disaster: we see trees being consumed by flames and a city in the background—representing human civilization—standing under the shadow of the storm. The text emphasizes that a "third part" of the earth is destroyed, a recurring theme in the Trumpet Judgments that signifies a devastating but still partial destruction, meant to provoke repentance.