Translation
Then the second one poured out his bowl
into the sea
Go to footnote numberand it became blood,
like that of a dead man,
and everything that had the breath of life
Go to footnote numberand was in the sea died.
Paraphrase
Then the second one set in motion the consequences demanded by the evidence, directing them at people who enjoy abundance
and that abundance became death to them, complete and unquestionable death, and every living soul
that had abundance died.
Footnotes
1
One of several possible meanings for the sea is “vastness,” or the seeming “unendingness” of whatever is in view, hence “abundance.” In this passage we are not told what is in view, but context helps us understand that it is most likely the abundance of physical or material things.
2
“The breath of life” can refer to those qualities which separate humans from animals, or it can be used of animals in a simple reference to life. This is the Greek word from which we get “psyche, and psychology,” not the word from which we get “biology.” It corresponds to the Hebrew word for “life” which also means Spirit and breath. In order for it to refer to the simple life of an animal the idea of Spirit must be eliminated, but this word for life was used in this way occasionally. So which is it in this case? Is it the type of life which only humans enjoy? Or it is life in general which all living things have been given by God? A literal rendering would point toward the general life that man and animals share, but the symbolism points to the life of man, not animals—all those with abundance died.