For their power is in their mouth
In what proceeded out of their mouth, or seethed to do so; in their guns, and what came out of them:
and in their tails;
which may design their foot soldiers, which were as the tail to their horse, and who sometimes did great service; or their way of fighting when they fled, by casting up arrows into the air, which would fall upon the heads and horses of those that pursued them; or their ambushments, by which they destroyed many; or their perfidious violation of treaties; or it may be their tails may intend the doctrine of Mahomet, the false prophet, who is the tail, ( Isaiah 9:15 ) ,
for their tails [were] like unto serpents;
crooked, crafty, poisonous, and, pernicious:
and had heads;
every tail had a head to it; which may be understood of the officers of the foot soldiers, or of the priests and teachers of the Mahometan religion:
and with them they do hurt;
with their guns, the power in their mouth, they did hurt to the bodies of men; and with their false doctrines, their tails, they did hurt to the souls of men; the Ethiopic version here adds, "five months"; which seems to be taken from ( Revelation 9:10 ) .