9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.^(A) The star was given the key^(B) to the shaft of the Abyss.^{(C) 2} When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.^(D) The sun and sky were darkened^(E) by the smoke from the Abyss.^{(F) 3} And out of the smoke locusts^(G) came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions^(H) of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm^(I) the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,^(J) but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(K) 5} They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.^(L) And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion^(M) when it strikes. ⁶ During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.^(N)

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.^(O) On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.^{(P) 8} Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.^{(Q) 9} They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.^{(R) 10} They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.^{(S) 11} They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,^(T) whose name in Hebrew^(U) is Abaddon^(V) and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

¹² The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.^(W)