The Seventh Seal

8 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence^(A) in heaven for about half an hour. ² Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God;^(B) seven trumpets were given to them.^{(C) 3} Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne.^{(D) 4} The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. ⁵ The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar,^(E) and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.^(F)

The Seven Trumpets

⁶ And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The First Trumpet

⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth.^(G) So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.^(H)

The Second Trumpet

⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea.^(I) So a third of the sea became blood,^{(J) 9} a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The Third Trumpet

¹⁰ The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven.^(K) It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood,^(L) and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.

The Fourth Trumpet

¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.^(M)

¹³ I looked and heard an eagle^[a] flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe!^(N) Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”

The Fifth Trumpet

9 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.^(A) The key for the shaft to the abyss^(B) was given to him. ² He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great^[a] furnace^(C) so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.^{(D) 3} Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth,^(E) and power^[b] was given to them^(F) like the power that scorpions have on the earth.^{(G) 4} They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree,^(H) but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.^{(I) 5} They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.^(J)

⁷ The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.^(K) Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces; ⁸ they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth;^{(L) 9} they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; ¹⁰ and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. ¹¹ They had as their king^[c] the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,^[d](M) and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.^[e]

¹² The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.^(N)