In Revelation 8:7–12, four of the seven angels had already blown their trumpets, resulting in widespread devastation and death on the earth through natural phenomena. The blowing of the fifth angel had been delayed to allow for the cry from the eagle (Revelation 8:13), announcing a triple “woe” upon the earth when the next three trumpets would be blown. The present passage introduces the reader to what is so terrible about the blast of the next trumpet.
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.