1The fifth angel blew his trumpet. Then I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the tunnel leading down into a bottomless pit. The pit was called the Abyss.2The star opened the Abyss. Then smoke rose up from it like the smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.3Out of the smoke came locusts. They came down on the earth. They were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree. They were supposed to harm only the people without God’s official seal on their foreheads.5The locusts were not allowed to kill these people. But the locusts could hurt them over and over for five months. The pain the people suffered was like the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.6In those days, people will look for a way to die but won’t find it. They will want to die, but death will escape them.7The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold. Their faces looked like human faces.8Their hair was like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth.9Their chests were covered with something that looked like armour made out of iron. The sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.10They had tails that could sting people as scorpions do. And in their tails they had power to hurt people over and over for five months.11Their king was the angel of the Abyss. In the Hebrew language his name is Abaddon. In Greek it is Apollyon. His name means Destroyer.12The first terrible judgment is past. Two others are still coming.13The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the four corners of the golden altar. The altar stands in front of God.14The voice spoke to the sixth angel who had the trumpet. The voice said, ‘Set the four angels free who are held at the great river Euphrates.’15The four angels had been ready for this very hour and day and month and year. They were set free to kill a third of all people.16The number of troops on horseback was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.17The horses and riders I saw in my vision had armour on their chests. It was red like fire, dark blue, and yellow like sulphur. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads. Out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulphur.18A third of all people were killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulphur that came out of the horses’ mouths.19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails. The tails were like snakes whose heads could bite.20There were people who were not killed by these plagues. But they still didn’t turn away from what they had been doing. They did not stop worshipping demons. They kept worshipping statues of gods made out of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. These statues can’t see or hear or walk.21The people also did not turn away from their murders, witchcraft, sexual sins and stealing.
Revelation 9
English Standard Version
1And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.[1] (Lu 8:31; Lu 10:18; Ro 10:7; Re 1:18; Re 8:10; Re 9:2; Re 9:11; Re 11:7; Re 12:9; Re 17:8; Re 20:1; Re 20:3)2He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. (Ge 19:28; Isa 34:10; Joe 2:10)3Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. (Ex 10:4)4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Re 6:6; Re 7:2; Re 7:3; Re 8:7)5They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. (Re 9:10)6And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. (Job 3:21; Job 7:15; Jer 8:3)7In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, (Da 7:8; Joe 2:4; Na 3:17)8their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; (Joe 1:6)9they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. (Job 39:21; Jer 8:6; Joe 2:5)10They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. (Re 9:5)11They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.[2] (Job 18:14; Job 26:6; Pr 30:27; Eph 2:2)12The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come. (Re 8:13; Re 11:14)13Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, (Ex 30:3)14saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” (Re 7:1; Re 16:12)15So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. (Re 8:7)16The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. (Ps 68:17; Eze 38:4; Da 7:10; Re 7:4)17And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire[3] and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. (1Ch 12:8; Isa 5:28)18By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.20The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, (De 31:29; Ps 115:4; Ps 135:15; Jer 1:16; Jer 25:14; Da 5:23; 1Co 10:20; Re 2:21)21nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Ga 5:20; Re 21:8; Re 22:15)