Revelation 9:1-21
Angels Five through Seven
1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
John continues to hear the angel's trumpets and tragedies and terrors...One third of all the people would be destroyed...God's people would be identified with a mark on their forehead...
The fifth angel blew his trumpet...Then John saw a star fall from the sky to the earth...The star was given the key to the deep hole that leads down to the bottomless pit...Then the star opened the hole leading to the pit...Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace...The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole...Then locusts came out of the smoke and went down to the earth...They were given the power to sting like scorpions...They were told not to damage the fields of grass or any plant or tree...They were to hurt only those who did not have God’s mark on their foreheads...So God's people are marked...They were not given the power to kill them but only to cause them pain for five months—pain like a person feels when stung by a scorpion...During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it...They will want to die, but death will hide from them...The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle...On their heads they wore something that looked like a gold crown...Their faces looked like human faces...Their hair was like women’s hair...Their teeth were like lions’ teeth...Their chests looked like iron breastplates...The sound their wings made was like the noise of many horses and chariots hurrying into battle...The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions...The power they had to give people pain for five months was in their tails...They had a ruler, who was the angel of the bottomless pit...His name in Hebrew is Abaddon...In Greek it is Apollyon...
The first terror is now past...There are still two other terrors to come...The sixth angel blew his trumpet...Then I heard a voice coming from the horns on the four corners of the golden altar that is before God...It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates.”...These four angels had been kept ready for this hour and day and month and year...The angels were set free to kill a third of all the people on the earth...I heard how many troops on horses were in their army...There were 200,000,000...In John's vision, he saw the horses and the riders on the horses...They looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur...The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions...The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths...A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues coming out of the horses’ mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur...The horses’ power was in their mouths and also in their tails...Their tails were like snakes that have heads to bite and hurt people...
The other people on earth were not killed by these plagues...But these people still did not change their hearts and turn away from worshiping the things they had made with their own hands...They did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see or hear or walk...They did not change their hearts and turn away from killing other people or from their evil magic, their sexual sins, and their stealing...