Angel Or Eagle?

Q

I’ve read Revelation about 100 times, but just finally had an “ah ha!” moment regarding 8:13. Why is it that throughout Revelation it is angels pouring out bowls of wrath and blowing trumpets, etc., and then all of a sudden an eagle shows up hollering “woe”? Who or what is the eagle?

A

Almost every legitimate translation describes the being shouting “Woe” in Rev. 8:13 as an eagle. But in the King James translation it’s called an angel. The Strong’s concordance shows the Greek word for angel in verse 13, but many believe the verse was changed for some unknown reason because all of the the earliest Greek manuscripts have the word for eagle there. (Since the Greek word for angel simply means messenger, it doesn’t change the meaning of the verse.)
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Some scholars who believe eagle is the correct usage tie it to Rev. 4:7 where John says that one of the 4 Cherubim resembles a flying eagle.