¹³ The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the four corners of the golden altar. The altar stands in front of God. ¹⁴ The voice spoke to the sixth angel who had the trumpet. The voice said, “Set the four angels free who are held at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ The four angels had been ready for this very hour and day and month and year. They were set free to kill a third of all people. ¹⁶ The number of troops on horseback was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.

¹⁷ The horses and riders I saw in my vision had armor on their chests. It was red like fire, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads. Out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. ¹⁸ A third of all people were killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of the horses’ mouths. ¹⁹ The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails. The tails were like snakes whose heads could bite.

²⁰ There were people who were not killed by these plagues. But they still didn’t turn away from what they had been doing. They did not stop worshiping demons. They kept worshiping statues of gods made out of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. These statues can’t see or hear or walk. ²¹ The people also did not turn away from their murders, witchcraft, sexual sins and stealing.