Translation
the name of the star
is WORMWOOD. A third of the waters
became WORMWOOD,
and many men died from
the waters because they had been made bitter.
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
the name of the demonstration of God’s power and glory is INTENSLEY BITTER. A limited portion of that which sustains life became INTENSELY BITTER, and many men died from the that which sustains life because they had been made bitter.
Wormwood
The star was called “Wormwood.” It had a name before it fell to earth. It is unlikely that people would worship bitterness, therefore I struggle to think this word picture represents a supposed deity. What seems to be most fitting here is that the star represents a demonstration of God’s power and glory (albeit a negative one) whose time had come. Bitterness and harsh anger (Wormwood also means “harsh anger”) are a part of God’s power, but they will not always be. A time will come when they will not be needed, and they will no longer retain their place among the demonstrations of God’s power and glory. Whether they lose their place as a consequence of how God has set things up, or whether they are actively cast from their place does not make a huge difference in the end.
The word “fell” usually implies that it lost its place, fell is negative. Thayer says “fell” is close to being “cast down.”
How bitter is the wormwood plant? In one of my trips through parts of Honduras with a Honduran minister, my traveling partner put a small piece of the leaf that we think is the equivalent of Wormwood into his mouth. It was about the size of the finger nail on his pinky. He knew it was going to be bitter but he was unprepared for how intensely bitter it turned out to be. But that was not the only surprise he had coming. He chewed and sucked on that small piece of leaf from about 10 AM till about 7 PM and it was still just as bitter as when he first put it in his mouth! It kept delivering a bitter punch hour after hour. Not only is it powerfully bitter, but it is unceasingly bitter. I believe the people of John’s day knew its qualities, and the name itself painted a vivid picture for them.