Gr. biblion (see on ch. 5:1). The picture here is of the sky being rolled up like a roll of parchment. In ancient cosmology the sky was considered to be a solid vault above the earth. The prophet now sees the sky rolled back, that the earth may stand unshielded before God. Isaiah (ch. 34:4) presents the same picture. This event is doubtless the same as that described by Jesus when He said, “The powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (see on Matt. 24:29). This event is yet future and is closely connected with the actual appearance of the Son of man in the heavens.
Every mountain and island.
In ch. 16:20 these fearful convulsions are presented as events taking place under the seventh plague.