What is the first Vial and the noisome sore?

Revelation 16:2 describes the first vial of God's wrath: "And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." This is the first of the seven bowl judgments, poured out directly upon the earth itself.

The result is a painful, foul-smelling, and severe sore or ulcer that breaks out specifically on two groups of people: those who carry the mark of the beast, and those who worship his image. This judgment is targeted, falling only on those who have aligned themselves with the beast system, marking them out for this particular suffering.

This plague is not without precedent in Scripture. Deuteronomy 28:27 and 35 describe a similar judgment that the Lord warned would come upon a disobedient people: "The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed... The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head." This shows that the sore of the first vial is patterned after judgments already foretold and previewed earlier in the Word, confirming that this final outpouring of wrath has deep roots throughout Scripture rather than standing as something entirely new.