9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of wealth and valor.

² Kish had a son named Saul, a choice young man and handsome; among all the Israelites there was not a man more handsome than he. He was a head taller than any of the people.

³ The donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. Kish said to Saul, Take a servant with you and go, look for the donkeys.

⁴ And they passed through the hill country of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, but did not find them. Then they went through the land of Shaalim and the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

⁵ And when they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, Come, let us return, lest my father stop worrying about the donkeys and become concerned about us.

⁶ The servant said to him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, a man held in honor; all that he says surely comes true. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can show us where we should go.

⁷ Then Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what shall we bring the man? The bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no gift for the man of God. What have we?

⁸ The servant replied, I have here a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God to tell us our way—

⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, Come, let us go to the seer, for he that is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

¹⁰ Saul said to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was.

¹¹ As they went up the hill to the city, they met young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, Is the seer here?

¹² They answered, He is; behold, he is just beyond you. Hurry, for he came today to the city because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place.

8 When He [the Lamb] broke open the seventh seal, there was silence for about half an hour in heaven.

² Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

³ And another angel came and stood over the altar. He had a golden censer, and he was given very much incense (fragrant spices and gums which exhale perfume when burned), that he might mingle it with the prayers of all the people of God (the saints) upon the golden altar before the throne.^(A)

⁴ And the smoke of the incense (the perfume) arose in the presence of God, with the prayers of the people of God (the saints), from the hand of the angel.

⁵ So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth. Then there followed peals of thunder and loud rumblings and blasts and noises, and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.^(B)

⁶ Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

⁷ The first angel blew [his] trumpet, and there was a storm of hail and fire mingled with blood cast upon the earth. And a third part of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees was burned up and all the green grass was burned up.^(C)

⁸ The second angel blew [his] trumpet, and something resembling a great mountain, blazing with fire, was hurled into the sea.^(D)

⁹ And a third of the sea was turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea perished, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel blew [his] trumpet, and a huge star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it dropped on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—

¹¹ And the name of the star is Wormwood. A third part of the waters was changed into wormwood, and many people died from using the water, because it had become bitter.

¹² Then the fourth angel blew [his] trumpet, and a third of the sun was smitten, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that [the light of] a third of them was darkened, and a third of the daylight [itself] was withdrawn, and likewise a third [of the light] of the night was kept from shining.

¹³ Then I [looked and I] saw a solitary eagle flying in midheaven, and as it flew I heard it crying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the rest of the trumpet blasts which the three angels are about to sound!

9 Then 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).

² He 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)

³ Then 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)

⁴ They 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)

⁵ They 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.

⁶ And 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)

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

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

⁹ Their 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)

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

¹¹ Over 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].

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

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

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

¹⁵ So 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.

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