Revelation 9:7

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.

Revelation 9:7 in Other Translations

7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

7 In 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,

7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces.

7 The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold crowns, human faces,

7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like gold crowns; their faces were like men's faces;

Revelation 9:7 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 9:7

And the shapes of the locusts [were] like unto horses
The heads of locusts, especially of some of them, are very much like the heads of horses: and here they are compared to horses

prepared unto battle;
as they are in ( Joel 2:4 ) . The horse is a warlike creature, swift, strong, and courageous, ( Job 39:21-25 ) . Locusts sometimes have appeared in the form of armies, and have marched in great order with their leaders before them, and have pitched their camps very regularly; see ( Joel 2:7 ) ; of which we have lately had an account from Transylvania in our public papers. (This was published in 1747, Ed.) This part of their description may denote the wars of the Saracens, and the rapidity, force, and power with which they overran great part of the empire; and as it may be applied to the western locusts, the disputes, contentions, and quarrels raised by the Romish clergy.

And on their heads [were], as it were, crowns like gold;
and in this shape some locusts have appeared, to which the allusion seems to be in, ( Nahum 3:17 ) , "thy crowned men are as the locusts". In the year 1542, it is said ^F12, that locusts came out of Turkish Sarmatia, into Austria, Silesia, and other places, which had on their heads "little crowns"; see ( Ezekiel 23:42 ) . And the Arabians, as Pliny observes, go "mitrati" ^F13, with mitres, turbans like crowns, on their heads. This may design the several victories and conquests which the Saracens obtained in Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Spain, and many other places; and supposing this to have any reference to the western locusts, it may respect the triple crown of the head of then, the caps of the cardinals, the mitres of the bishops, and the shaven pates of the priests, in form of crowns.

And their faces [were] as the faces of men;
which may be expressive of the affable carriage of Mahomet, and his followers, especially to the Christians, and of his great pretensions to holiness and religion, and of the plausible and insinuating ways, and artful methods, used by him, to gain upon men; and being applied to the clergy of the church of Rome, may denote their show of humanity, and their pretended great concern for the welfare of the souls of men, their flatteries, good words, and fair speeches, with which they deceive the simple and unwary.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Vid. Frentz. Hist. Animal. sacr. p. 5. c. 4. p. 799.
F13 Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.

Revelation 9:7 In-Context

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.

Cross References

• 1. Joel 2:4
• 2. Daniel 7:8