Revelation 16:2

“And the first went, etc.] The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, “the first angel”, and who undoubtedly is meant, who readily and cheerfully obeyed the orders given him, as did the rest; by this angel cannot be meant Pope Adrian, as Lyra, a Popish interpreter, imagines; for a pope would never hurt the worshippers of the beast, as this angel does; rather some Christian Protestant prince or magistrate is designed, and Brightman applies it to Queen Elizabeth; though a set of kings and princes yet to come seem to be intended: and poured out his vial upon the earth; not upon the whole earth, and the inhabitants of it; not upon the temple or church of God, and the worshippers in it, which are…”

“went--Greek, "went away." poured out--So the angel cast fire into the earth previous to the series of trumpets (Rev 8:5). upon--so Coptic. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "into." noisome--literally, "evil" (compare Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35). The very same Greek word is used in the Septuagint as here, Greek, "helkos." The reason why the sixth Egyptian plague is the first here is because it was directed against the Egyptian magicians, Jannes and Jambres, so that they could not stand before Moses; and so here the plague is sent upon those who in the beast worship had practiced sorcery. As they submitted to the mark of the beast, so they must bear the mark of the avenging God. Contrast Rev…”

“And the first went - Went forth from heaven, where the seat of the vision was laid. And poured out his vial upon the earth - That is, upon the land, in contradistinction from the sea, the rivers, the air, the seat of the beast, the sun, as represented in the other vials. In Revelation 16:1, the word earth is used in the general sense to denote this world as distinguished from heaven; in this verse it is used in the specific sense, to denote land as distinguished from other things. Compare Mark 4:1; Mark 6:47; John 6:21; Acts 27:29, Acts 27:43-44. In many respects there is a strong resemblance between the pouring out of those seven vials, and the sounding of the seven trumpets, in Rev. 8–9,…”

“And the first went - So the second, third, &c., without adding angel, to denote the utmost swiftness; of which this also is a token, that there is no period of time mentioned in the pouring out of each phial. They have a great resemblance to the plagues of Egypt, which the Hebrews generally suppose to have been a month distant from each other. Perhaps so may the phials; but they are all yet to come. And poured out his phial upon the earth - Literally taken. And there came a grievous ulcer - As in Egypt, Exo 9:10-11. On the men who had the mark of the wild beast - All of them, and them only. All those plagues seem to be described in proper, not figurative, words. Revelation 16:3”

“16:2 The malignant sores are reminiscent of the sixth plague of Egypt (Exod 9:9-11). • mark of the beast: See Rev 13:13-17; 14:9-10.”

“upon the earth: Rev 8:7, Rev 14:16 a noisome: Exo 9:8-11; Deu 7:15, Deu 28:27; Sa1 5:6, Sa1 5:9; Ch2 21:15, Ch2 21:18; Job 2:7, Job 2:8; Psa 78:26; Isa 1:5, Isa 1:6, Isa 3:17, Isa 3:24; Luk 16:20-22; Act 12:23 had: Rev 13:15-18 Revelation 16:3”