The Seventh Seal—the Trumpets

8 When He (the Lamb) broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour [in awe of God’s impending judgment].^{(A) 2} Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven ^[a]trumpets were given to them.

³ Another angel came and stood at the altar. He had a golden ^[b]censer, and much ^[c]incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints (God’s people) on the golden altar in front of the throne.^{(B) 4} And the smoke and fragrant aroma of the incense, with the prayers of the saints (God’s people), ascended before God from the angel’s hand. ⁵ So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder and loud rumblings and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.^(C)

⁶ Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them [initiating the judgments].

⁷ The first [angel] sounded [his trumpet], and there was [a storm of] hail and fire, mixed with blood, and it was hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.^(D)

⁸ The second angel sounded [his trumpet], and something like a great mountain blazing with fire was hurled into the sea; and a third of the sea was turned to blood;^{(E) 9} and a third of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded [his trumpet], and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch [flashing across the sky], and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of [fresh] waters. ¹¹ The name of the star is ^[d]Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters, because they had become bitter (toxic).

¹² Then the fourth angel sounded [his trumpet], and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and a third of the daylight would not shine, and the night in the same way [would not shine].^(F)

¹³ Then I looked, and I heard a solitary eagle flying in ^[e]midheaven [for all to see], saying with a loud voice, “^[f]Woe, woe, woe [great wrath is coming] to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpets which the three angels are about to sound [announcing ever greater judgments]!”

The Fifth Trumpet—the Bottomless Pit

9 Then the fifth angel sounded [his trumpet], and I saw a star (angelic being) that had fallen from heaven to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit (abyss) was given to him (the star-angel).^{(G) 2} He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke like the smoke of a great furnace flowed out of the pit; and the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the pit.^{(H) 3} Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power [to hurt] was given to them, like the power which the earth’s scorpions have.^{(I) 4} They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but [to hurt] only the people who do not have the seal (mark of ownership, protection) of God on their foreheads.^{(J) 5} They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment and cause them extreme pain for five months; and their torment was like the torment from a scorpion when it stings a man. ⁶ And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die [to escape the pain], but [will discover that] death evades them.^(K)

⁷ The locusts resembled horses prepared and equipped for battle; and on their heads appeared to be [something like] golden crowns, and their faces resembled human faces.^{(L) 8} They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.^{(M) 9} They had breastplates (scales) like breastplates made of iron; and the [whirring] noise of their wings was like the [thunderous] noise of countless horse-drawn chariots charging [at full speed] into battle.^{(N) 10} They have tails like scorpions, and stingers; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months.^{(O) 11} They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss (the bottomless pit); in Hebrew his name is Abaddon (destruction), and in Greek he is called Apollyon (destroyer-king).

¹² The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.

The Sixth Trumpet—Army from the East

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded [his trumpet], and I heard a solitary voice from the four horns of the golden altar which stands before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the [appointed] hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ The number of the troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (two hundred million); I heard the number of them. ¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses and their riders in my vision: the riders had breastplates [the color] of fire and of hyacinth (sapphire blue) and of brimstone (yellow); and the heads of the horses looked like the heads of lions; and from out of their mouths came fire and smoke and brimstone (burning sulfur). ¹⁸ A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came from the mouths of the horses. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses [to do harm] is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and it is with them that they do harm.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^[g]did not repent even then of the works of their hands, so as to cease worshiping and paying homage to the demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;^{(P) 21} and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries (drugs, intoxications) nor of their [sexual] immorality nor of their thefts.

The Angel and the Little Book

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed in a cloud, with a rainbow (halo) over his head; and his face was like the sun, and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire;^{(Q) 2} and he had a little book (scroll) open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land;^{(R) 3} and he shouted with a loud voice, like the roaring of a lion [compelling attention and inspiring awe]; and when he had shouted out, the seven peals of thunder spoke with their own voices [uttering their message in distinct words].^{(S) 4} And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them down.”^{(T) 5} Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand [to swear an oath] to heaven,^{(U) 6} and swore [an oath] by [the name of] Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer,^{(V) 7} but ^[h]when it is time for the ^[i]trumpet call of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God [that is, His hidden purpose and plan] is finished, as He announced the gospel to His servants the prophets.^(W)

⁸ Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me, and saying, “Go, take the book (scroll) which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”^{(X) 10} So I took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey; but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was ^[j]bitter.^{(Y) 11} Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”^(Z)