Revelation 9-12 (Amplified Bible)

Revelation 9

 ¹THEN THE fifth angel blew [his] trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth; and to the angel was given the key ^[a]of the shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit).

    ²He opened the ^[b]long shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit), and smoke like the smoke of a huge furnace puffed out of the ^[c]long shaft, so that the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the long shaft.^(A)

    ³Then out of the smoke locusts came forth on the earth, and such power was granted them as the power the earth's scorpions have.^(B)

    ⁴They were told not to injure the herbage of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only [to attack] such human beings as do not have the seal (mark) of God on their foreheads.^(C)

    ⁵They were not permitted to kill them, but to torment (distress, vex) them for five months; and the pain caused them was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a person.

    ⁶And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will yearn to die, but death evades and flees from them.^(D)

    ⁷The locusts resembled horses equipped for battle. On their heads was something like golden crowns. Their faces resembled the faces of people.^(E)

    ⁸They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.^(F)

    ⁹Their breastplates (scales) resembled breastplates made of iron, and the [whirring] noise made by their wings was like the roar of a vast number of horse-drawn chariots going at full speed into battle.^(G)

    ¹⁰They have tails like scorpions, and they have stings, and in their tails lies their ability to hurt men for [the] five months.

    ¹¹Over them as king they have the angel of the Abyss (of the bottomless pit). In Hebrew his name is Abaddon [destruction], but in Greek he is called Apollyon [destroyer].

    ¹²The first woe (calamity) has passed; behold, two others are yet to follow.

    ¹³Then the sixth angel blew [his] trumpet, and from the four horns of the golden altar which stands before God I heard a solitary voice,

    ¹⁴Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Liberate the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

    ¹⁵So the four angels who had been in readiness for that hour in the appointed day, month, and year were liberated to destroy a third of mankind.

    ¹⁶The number of their troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (200,000,000); I heard what their number was.

    ¹⁷And in [my] vision the horses and their riders appeared to me like this: the riders wore breastplates the color of fiery red and sapphire blue and sulphur (brimstone) yellow. The heads of the horses looked like lions' heads, and from their mouths there poured fire and smoke and sulphur (brimstone).

    ¹⁸A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues--by the fire and the smoke and the sulphur (brimstone) that poured from the mouths of the horses.

    ¹⁹For the power of the horses to do harm is in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails are like serpents, for they have heads, and it is by means of them that they wound people.

    ²⁰And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues even then did not repent of [the worship of] the works of their [own] hands, so as to cease paying homage to the demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor move.^(H)

    ²¹And they did not repent of their murders or their practice of magic (sorceries) or their sexual vice or their thefts.

   

Revelation 10

 ¹THEN I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, robed in a cloud, with a [halo like a] rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire.

    ²He had a little book (scroll) open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,

    ³And he shouted with a loud voice like the roaring of a lion; and when he had shouted, the seven thunders gave voice and uttered their message in distinct words.

    ⁴And when the seven thunders had spoken (sounded), I was going to write [it down], but I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven thunders have said! Do not write it down!

    ⁵Then the [mighty] angel whom I had seen stationed on sea and land raised his right hand to heaven (the ^[d]sky),^(I)

    ⁶And swore in the name of (by) Him Who lives forever and ever, Who created the heavens (^[e]sky) and all they contain, and the earth and all that it contains, and the sea and all that it contains. [He swore] that no more time should intervene and there should be no more waiting or delay,

    ⁷But that when the days come when the trumpet call of the seventh angel is about to be sounded, then God's mystery (His secret design, His hidden purpose), as He had announced the glad tidings to His servants the prophets, should be fulfilled (accomplished, completed).^(J)

    ⁸Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke again to me, saying, Go and take the little book (scroll) which is open on the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.

    ⁹So I went up to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it. It will embitter your stomach, though in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.^(K)

    ¹⁰So I took the little book from the angel's hand and ate and swallowed it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was embittered.

    ¹¹Then they said to me, You are to make a fresh prophecy concerning many peoples and races and nations and languages and kings.^(L)

   

Revelation 11

 ¹A REED [as a measuring rod] was then given to me, [shaped] like a staff, and I was told: Rise up and measure the sanctuary of God and the altar [of incense], and [number] those who worship there.^(M)

    ²But leave out of your measuring the court outside the sanctuary of God; omit that, for it is given over to the Gentiles (the nations), and they will trample the holy city underfoot for 42 months (three and one-half years).^(N)

    ³And I will grant the power of prophecy to My two witnesses for 1,260 (42 months; three and one-half years), dressed in sackcloth.

    ⁴These [witnesses] are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth.^(O)

    ⁵And if anyone attempts to injure them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their enemies; if anyone should attempt to harm them, thus he is doomed to be slain. [II Kings 1:10; Jer. 5:14.]

    ⁶These [two witnesses] have power to shut up the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying (their ^[f]prediction of events relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph); and they also have power to turn the waters into blood and to smite and scourge the earth with all manner of plagues as often as they choose.^(P)

    ⁷But when they have finished their testimony and their evidence is all in, the beast (monster) that comes up out of the Abyss (bottomless pit) will wage war on them, and conquer them and kill them.^(Q)

    ⁸And their dead bodies [will lie exposed] in the open street (^[g]a public square) of the great city which is in a spiritual sense called [by the mystical and allegorical names of] Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.^(R)

    ⁹For three and a half days men from the races and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and will not allow them to be put in a tomb.

    ¹⁰And those who dwell on the earth will gloat and exult over them and rejoice exceedingly, taking their ease and sending presents [in congratulation] to one another, because these two prophets had been such a vexation and trouble and torment to all the dwellers on the earth.

    ¹¹But after three and a half days, by God's gift the breath of life again entered into them, and they rose up on their feet, and great dread and terror fell on those who watched them.^(S)

    ¹²Then [the two witnesses] heard a strong voice from heaven calling to them, Come up here! And before the very eyes of their enemies they ascended into heaven in a cloud. [II Kings 2:11.]

    ¹³And at that [very] hour there was a tremendous earthquake and one tenth of the city was destroyed (fell); seven thousand people perished in the earthquake, and those who remained were filled with dread and terror and were awe-struck, and they glorified the God of heaven.

    ¹⁴The second woe (calamity) has passed; now the third woe is speedily to come.

    ¹⁵The seventh angel then blew [his] trumpet, and there were mighty voices in heaven, shouting, The dominion (kingdom, sovereignty, rule) of the world has now come into the possession and become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (the Messiah), and He shall reign forever and ever (for the eternities of the eternities)!^(T)

    ¹⁶Then the twenty-four elders [of ^[h]the heavenly Sanhedrin], who sit on their thrones before God, prostrated themselves before Him and worshiped,

    ¹⁷Exclaiming, To You we give thanks, Lord God Omnipotent, [the One] Who is and [ever] was, for assuming the high sovereignty and the great power that are Yours and for beginning to reign.

    ¹⁸And the heathen (the nations) raged, but Your wrath (retribution, indignation) came, the time when the dead will be judged and Your servants the prophets and saints rewarded--and those who revere (fear) Your name, both low and high and small and great--and [the time] for destroying the corrupters of the earth.^(U)

    ¹⁹Then the sanctuary of God in heaven was thrown open, and the ark of His covenant was seen standing inside in His sanctuary; and there were flashes of lightning, loud rumblings (blasts, mutterings), peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a terrific hailstorm. [I Kings 8:1-6.]

   

Revelation 12

 ¹AND A great sign (wonder)--[warning of future events of ominous significance] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crownlike garland (tiara) of twelve stars on her head.

    ²She was pregnant and she cried out in her birth pangs, in the anguish of her delivery.

    ³Then another ominous sign (wonder) was seen in heaven: Behold, a huge, fiery-red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven kingly crowns (diadems) upon his heads.^(V)

    ⁴His tail swept [across the sky] and dragged down a third of the stars and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stationed himself in front of the woman who was about to be delivered, so that he might devour her child as soon as she brought it forth.^(W)

    ⁵And she brought forth a male Child, One Who is destined to shepherd (rule) all the nations with an iron staff (scepter), and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.^(X)

    ⁶And the woman [herself] fled into the desert (wilderness), where she has a retreat prepared [for her] by God, in which she is to be fed and kept safe for 1,260 days (42 months; three and one-half years).

    ⁷Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels went forth to battle with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

    ⁸But they were defeated, and there was no room found for them in heaven any longer.

    ⁹And the huge dragon was cast down and out--that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him.^(Y)

    ¹⁰Then I heard a strong (loud) voice in heaven, saying, Now it has come--the salvation and the power and the kingdom (the dominion, the reign) of our God, and the power (the sovereignty, the authority) of His Christ (the Messiah); for the accuser of our brethren, he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out!^(Z)

    ¹¹And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].

    ¹²Therefore be glad (exult), O heavens and you that dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in fierce anger (fury), because he knows that he has [only] a short time [left]!^(AA)

    ¹³And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male Child.

    ¹⁴But the woman was supplied with the two wings of a giant eagle, so that she might fly from the presence of the serpent into the desert (wilderness), to the retreat where she is to be kept safe and fed for a time, and times, and half a time (three and one-half years, or 1,260 days).^(AB)

    ¹⁵Then out of his mouth the serpent spouted forth water like a flood after the woman, that she might be carried off with the torrent.

    ¹⁶But the earth came to the rescue of the woman, and the ground opened its mouth and swallowed up the stream of water which the dragon had spouted from his mouth.

    ¹⁷So then the dragon was furious (enraged) at the woman, and he went away to wage war on the remainder of her descendants--[on those] who obey God's commandments and who have the testimony of Jesus Christ [and adhere to it and ^[i]bear witness to Him].