¹² The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts, and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore.^(A)

⁵ For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted, so they wasted the land as they came in.^(A)

² 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.^{(A) 3} Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth.^{(B) 4} They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(C) 5} They were allowed to torment them for five months but not to kill them, and the agony suffered was like that caused by a scorpion when it stings someone.^{(D) 6} And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.^(E)

⁷ In appearance the locusts were like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,^{(F) 8} their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;^{(G) 9} they had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.^{(H) 10} They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months.

⁴⁶ Mortal, set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb;^(A)