The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 The fifth Angel trumpeted. I saw a Star plummet from Heaven to earth. The Star was handed a key to the Well of the Abyss.
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And 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.
2 He unlocked the Well of the Abyss - smoke poured out of the Well, billows and billows of smoke, sun and air in blackout from smoke pouring out of the Well.
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He 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.
3 Then out of the smoke crawled locusts with the venom of scorpions.
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Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.
4 They were given their orders: "Don't hurt the grass, don't hurt anything green, don't hurt a single tree - only men and women, and then only those who lack the seal of God on their foreheads."
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They 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.
5 They were ordered to torture but not kill, torture them for five months, the pain like a scorpion sting.
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They 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.
6 When this happens, people are going to prefer death to torture, look for ways to kill themselves. But they won't find a way - death will have gone into hiding.
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And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold crowns, human faces,
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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,
8 women's hair, the teeth of lions,
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their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions' teeth;
9 and iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was the sound of horse-drawn chariots charging into battle.
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they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.
10 Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months.
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They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.
11 They had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon - "Destroyer."
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They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
12 The first doom is past. Two dooms yet to come.
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The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
13 The sixth Angel trumpeted. I heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden Altar before God:
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Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God,
14 "Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels confined at the great River Euphrates."
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saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
15 The Four Angels were untied and let loose, Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they were to kill a third of the human race.
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So 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.
16 The number of the army of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the count
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The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.
17 and saw both horses and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lion heads on the horses breathing out fire and smoke and brimstone.
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And 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 and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths.
18 With these three weapons - fire and smoke and brimstone - they killed a third of the human race.
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By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
19 The horses killed with their mouths and tails; their serpentlike tails also had heads that wreaked havoc.
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For 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.
20 The remaining men and women who weren't killed by these weapons went on their merry way - didn't change their way of life, didn't quit worshiping demons, didn't quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn't see or hear or move.
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The 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,
21 There wasn't a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways.
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nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.