The Sixth Trumpet

13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four[a] horns of the golden altar(A) that is before God, I heard a voice 14 say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels(B) bound at the great river Euphrates.”(C) 15 So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year(D) were released to kill a third(E) of the human race. 16 The number of mounted troops was two hundred million;[b] I heard their number. 17 This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.(F) 18 A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues—by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads that inflict injury.

20 The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands(G) to stop worshiping demons(H) and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood,(I) which cannot see, hear, or walk.(J) 21 And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 9:13 Other mss omit four
  2. 9:16 Other mss read a hundred million

The Sixth Trumpet Brings the Second Terror

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. 14 And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.” 15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth. 16 I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.

17 And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. 18 One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses. 19 Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.

20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Read full chapter