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The Fifth Trumpet Brings the First Terror

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.[a] When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke.

Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions. They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting. In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces. They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people. 11 Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon—the Destroyer.

12 The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!

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Footnotes

  1. 9:1 Or the abyss, or the underworld; also in 9:11.

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit;(A) 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.(B) Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth.(C) 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.(D) 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.(E) And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.(F)

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,(G) their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;(H) they had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.(I) 10 They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,[a] and in Greek he is called Apollyon.[b](J)

12 The first woe has passed. There are still two woes to come.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.11 That is, Destruction
  2. 9.11 That is, Destroyer