Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the ^(A)golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound ^(B)at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a ^(C)third of mankind. ¹⁶ Now ^(D)the number of the army ^(E)of the horsemen was two hundred million; ^(F)I heard the number of them. ¹⁷ And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; ^(G)and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For ^[a]their power is in their mouth and in their tails; ^(H)for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

²⁰ But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^(I)did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship ^(J)demons, ^(K)and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders ^(L)or their ^[b]sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The Mighty Angel with the Little Book

10 I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. ^(M)And a rainbow was on ^(N)his head, his face was like the sun, and ^(O)his feet like pillars of fire. ² He had a little book open in his hand. ^(P)And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, ^(Q)seven thunders uttered their voices. ⁴ Now when the seven thunders ^[c]uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying ^[d]to me, ^(R)“Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”

⁵ The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land ^(S)raised up his ^[e]hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, ^(T)who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, ^(U)that there should be delay no longer, ⁷ but ^(V)in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

John Eats the Little Book

⁸ Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.”

And he said to me, ^(W)“Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

¹⁰ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, ^(X)and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, ^(Y)my stomach became bitter. ¹¹ And ^[f]he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”