And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound the trumpet.

And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves that they might sound with their trumpets.

And the seven messengers who are having the seven trumpets did prepare themselves that they may sound;

Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made preparations for blowing them.

And the seven angels who had the seven horns made ready for sounding them.

And the seven Angels who hold the seven trumpets prepared themselves, in order to sound the trumpet.

Then the seven angels holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow their blasts.

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound - Revelation 8:7. Evidently in succession, perhaps by arranging themselves in the order in which they were to sound. The way is now prepared for the sounding of the trumpets, and for the fearful commotions and changes which would be indicated by that. The last seal is opened; heaven stands in suspense to know what is to be disclosed; the saints, filled with solicitude, have offered their prayers; the censer of coals has been cast to the earth, as if these judgments could be no longer stayed by prayer; and the angels prepare to sound the trumpets indicative of what is to occur.

Prepared themselves to sound - Each took up his trumpet, and stood prepared to blow his blast. Wars are here indicated; the trumpet was the emblem of war.

(4) And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
(4) This is the work of the administers. The angels, the administers of Christ, by sounding trumpet and voice (for they are heralds) effectually call forth the instruments of the wrath of God, through his power. Until now, things have been general. Now the narration of specific things follows, which the angels fix in number wrought in their order, set out in (Revelation 8:7) and is concluded with the declaration of the event which followed these things done in the world, and in chapters ten and eleven.

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets,.... Given them, Revelation 8:2;
prepared themselves to sound; they stood up, took their trumpets in their hands, and put them to their mouths; this was giving notice of what was coming upon the earth, and a kind of warning to men, and a call upon them to repentance, and to prepare to meet God in the way of his judgments. The time when these trumpets began to blow was after the opening of the seventh seal, and so after the destruction of the empire as Pagan, which was under the sixth seal; and after that peace and rest from persecution in Constantine's time, signified by the half hour's silence in heaven; and after the prayers of the saints for vengeance, because of their blood shed in the time of Rome Pagan, were offered up, heard, taken notice of, and accepted; and therefore cannot regard, nor have any concern with the state of the church before Constantine's time, as some have thought the three first trumpets had; the first introducing the contradictions and blasphemies of the Jews, and their persecutions of the Christians, and the effusion of their blood by them; the second the ten persecutions under the Heathen emperors; and the third, the errors and heresies which pestered the churches of those times: nor indeed do they concern the state of the church at all; though it seems much more likely that the first four trumpets should bring in; as others have thought, the several heresies of Arius, Macedonius, Pelagius, and Eutyches, which sprung up before the rise of Mahomet, who appears under the fifth trumpet. But all the six trumpets have to do with the empire as Christian; for as the six seals are so many steps towards the destruction of the empire as Pagan, and the vials bring on the ruin of Rome Papal; so the six trumpets are so many gradual advances to the ruin of the empire, now Christian: and it must be observed, that the Emperor Theodosius, at his death, left the empire divided between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the eastern part of it, which had Constantinople for its seat, to the former, and the western part of it, which had Rome for its seat, to the latter; now the first four trumpets bring in a barbarous people out of the north, the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, into the western part, who, by various incursions and wars, at last utterly destroy it; and the fifth and sixth trumpets bring in the Saracens under Mahomet, and the Turks into the eastern part, who took possession of that, and have kept it unto this day. (This was published in 1747, Ed.) A preparation being made, the angels begin to sound their trumpets.

sound--blow the trumpets.

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets. See Revelation 8:2. There is the utmost deliberation. All must be made ready. The four angels hold back the winds (Revelation 7:1), then there was the silence of half an hour (Revelation 8:1); now the seven angels prepared themselves to sound. This implies that all things were being made ready for the great events to follow. Trumpets. The trumpet is used to give a signal. Usually it implied the march or charge of armies. See Joel 2:1, Joel 2:15; Jeremiah 4:5; Ezekiel 33:1-6. Sometimes it calls the people to worship. See Numbers 31:6; 1-Chronicles 15:24. The reader will see that the first is likely to be the significance here.

And the seven angels prepared themselves to sound - That each, when it should come to his turn, might sound without delay. But while they do sound, they still stand before God.