Revelation 9:1-12

Tormenting Locusts from the Abyss

1 And the fifth angel blew the trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the shaft of the abyss was given to him.

2 And he opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke went up from the shaft like smoke from a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.

3 And out of the smoke locusts came to the earth, and power was given to them like the scorpions of the earth have power.

4 And it was told to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth or any green [plant] or any tree, except those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

5 And it was granted to them that they should not kill them, but that they would be tormented five months, and their torment [is] like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person.

6 And in those days people will seek death and will never find it, and they will long to die, and death will flee from them.

7 And the appearance of the locusts [was] like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads [were something] like crowns similar in appearance to gold, and their faces [were] like men's faces,

8 and they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like [the teeth] of lions,

9 and they had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings [was] like the sound of many {horse-drawn chariots} running into battle.

10 And they have tails similar in appearance to scorpions, and stings, and their power to injure people [for] five months [is] in their tails.

11 They have [as] king over them the angel of the abyss, {whose name} in Hebrew [is] Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

12 The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still coming after these [things].

Revelation 9:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 9

This chapter gives an account of the blowing of the fifth and sixth trumpets, and of the effects following upon them. The fifth angel blows his trumpet, and a star falls; the key of the bottomless pit is given to him, which being opened by it, out of it comes smoke to the darkening of the sun and air, and out of the smoke locusts, who have power like scorpions, Re 9:1-3; whose power is restrained from using it to the hurt of the grass, or any green thing or tree, only of those who had not the seal of God in their foreheads; but are permitted, though not to kill men, yet to torment them five months, which is worse than death unto them, Re 9:4-6. The shapes of these locusts, which are said to be like horses, are described by their heads, faces, hair, teeth, breastplates, wings, and tails, and are said to have a king over them, whose name is mentioned, Re 9:7-11. The blowing of this trumpet brings on one of the woes mentioned in Re 8:13, and the two other follow, Re 9:12. The sixth angel blows his trumpet, and a voice is heard from the horns of the altar, directed to the said angel, ordering him to loose four angels bound in the great river Euphrates, where they were prepared, for a determinate time, to slay the third part of men, and they were loosed accordingly, Re 9:13-15. The number of the army, under these angels, is given, Re 9:16, and the horses and horsemen are described; the riders by their breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone; their horses' heads as heads of lions, fire, smoke, and brimstone, issuing out of their mouths, by which the third part of men are killed, Re 9:17,18. The reason of this slaughter is, because they had power both in their mouth and tails, which latter were like serpents, and had heads, with which they did mischief, Re 9:19; and yet such who were not killed by these plagues, but escaped, did not repent of their idolatry, murders, sorceries, fornication, and theft, Re 9:20,21.

Footnotes

• [a] *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [b] Literally "chariots of horses"
• [c] Literally "the name to him"