Revelation 8:10-11 to Jeremiah 9:15

OT Source(s):

Jeremiah 9:15 ("I will feed this people with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink")

Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Reference Type: Allusion

Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme + Analogy

Significance: The third trumpet judgment names the fallen star "Wormwood" (Apsinthos), and the bitter, poisonous waters recall Jeremiah 9:15, where YHWH threatens apostate Judah: "I will feed this people wormwood (la'anah) and give them poisoned water to drink." In Jeremiah, wormwood is the bitter consequence of covenant infidelity — a judgment specifically tied to Israel's idolatry and refusal to obey God's Torah. The same imagery appears in Jeremiah 23:15 against false prophets. John's appropriation universalizes the judgment: what fell on apostate Judah in Jeremiah now falls on the entire rebellious world. The star falling from heaven may evoke the false teachers who corrupt spiritual waters (cf. Jude 13, "wandering stars"). The wormwood tradition in the prophets consistently links bitterness to the consequence of spiritual unfaithfulness, making this trumpet a warning against the world's idolatrous rebellion.