{30} And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a {c} talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

(30) The manner of the particular execution, most evidently testifying the wrath of God by the original and greatness of it: the event of which is the same with that which is in Re 9:12 and that which has been mentioned in this chapter, from the execution of the fourth angel till now, that is to say, an incorrigible pertinency of the world in their rebellion, and a heart that cannot repent; Re 16:9,10.

(c) About the weight of a talent, and a talent was sixty pounds, that is, six hundred groats, by which is signified a marvellous and strange weight.

People's New Testament

16:21 There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven. Upon the men who were judged and punished. Hail is a symbol of God's judgment.

Every stone about the weight of a talent. Hailstones of such weight signify awful judgments.

Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail. Not all men, but the men punished. In Re 16:9,11 it is declared that they repented not, and here it is again implied that they were incorrigible. The thought is that they perish in impenitence.

It might be added that Robert Flemming, who in 1701 so accurately forecasted the fate of the Papacy (see topic 9769, statement in notes on the fifth vial) places the seventh in AD 1900.

Wesley's Notes

16:21 And a great hail falleth out of heaven - From which there was no defence. From the earthquake men would fly into the fields; but here also they are met by the hail: nor were they secure if they returned into the houses, when each hail - stone weighed sixty pounds.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. fell-Greek, "descends."

upon men-Greek, "the men."

and men blasphemed God-not those struck who died, but the rest. Unlike the result in the case of Jerusalem (Re 11:13), where "the remnant . affrighted . gave glory to the God of heaven."

was-Greek, "is."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:17-21 The seventh and last angel poured forth his vial, and the downfal of Babylon was finished. The church triumphant in heaven saw it and rejoiced; the church in conflict on earth saw it and became triumphant. God remembered the great and wicked city; though for some time he seemed to have forgotten her idolatry and cruelty. All that was most secure was carried away by the ruin. Men blasphemed: the greatest judgments that can befal men, will not bring to repentance without the grace of God. To be hardened against God, by his righteous judgments, is a certain token of sure and utter destruction.