And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
This verse describes the third trumpet judgment in John's vision of the end times in Revelation — a series of catastrophic events that unfold as angels blow their trumpets. A massive, blazing star named Wormwood falls from the sky and poisons a third of the earth's fresh water. Wormwood was a bitter plant well known in the ancient world, and its name had become synonymous with grief and bitterness. The result is devastating — many people die from drinking water that should have sustained life but now harms it. In Revelation's symbolic language, this image of life-giving water turning lethal speaks to a world coming undone at its foundations.
God, some of what I've been drinking from has gone bitter and I'm exhausted by it. Give me the courage to be honest about that. Lead me to water that is clean, and remind me that even in the worst desolation, You are not finished. Amen.
A star named Bitterness falls from the sky and poisons the water. You reach for what should sustain you, and it burns going down. That is not just apocalyptic imagery — it is an experience a surprising number of people recognize from the inside. Grief does this. A church wound does this. A friendship that turned — a marriage that fractured — work that once felt like a calling and now feels like a slow drain. The source you used to drink from freely has gone bitter, and you are not sure how to survive without it. Revelation does not flinch from naming this honestly. It does not say the waters got a little brackish. It says people died. The book is unflinching about what a fractured world costs. But Revelation — with all its thundering darkness — is not ultimately a book about bitterness winning. The trumpets blow, the judgments fall, and the story keeps moving toward something the bitterness cannot reach. If you are drinking from bitter water today, that pain is real, and you do not have to minimize it. And it is not where the story ends.
What does the image of life-sustaining water turning poisonous communicate about what happens when the foundations of a world — or a life — are broken?
Have you ever experienced a 'bitter water' moment — a source of nourishment, belonging, or meaning that became painful or harmful? What did that cost you?
Does it feel theologically honest or troubling to you that God allows — or works through — such catastrophic suffering in Revelation's vision? How do you hold that tension?
How do you show up for someone in your life who is in a bitter season — someone whose water has gone bad — without minimizing what they are going through?
What is one source of spiritual or relational nourishment in your life that you have been neglecting, and what would it take to return to it this week?
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Hebrews 12:15
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Revelation 8:7
Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
Amos 6:12
And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Revelation 16:4
The name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters, because they had become bitter (toxic).
AMP
The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
ESV
The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
NASB
the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
NIV
The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
NKJV
The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water.
NLT
The Star's name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned water.
MSG