Job Answers His Critics

12 Then Job answered and said:

Job Defends Himself

Job’s Despondent Prayer

Seventh Seal: Prelude to the Seven Trumpets

8 When^(A) He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ^2 (B)And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, ^(C)and to them were given seven trumpets. ³ Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with ^(D)the prayers of all the saints upon ^(E)the golden altar which was before the throne. ⁴ And ^(F)the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And ^(G)there were noises, thunderings, ^(H)lightnings, ^(I)and an earthquake.

⁶ So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

First Trumpet: Vegetation Struck

⁷ The first angel sounded: ^(J)And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown ^(K)to the ^[a]earth. And a third ^(L)of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

Second Trumpet: The Seas Struck

⁸ Then the second angel sounded: ^(M)And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, ^(N)and a third of the sea ^(O)became blood. ^9 (P)And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Third Trumpet: The Waters Struck

¹⁰ Then the third angel sounded: ^(Q)And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, ^(R)and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ^11 (S)The name of the star is Wormwood. ^(T)A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

Fourth Trumpet: The Heavens Struck

^12 (U)Then the fourth angel sounded: 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 ^[b]did not shine, and likewise the night.

¹³ And I looked, ^(V)and I heard an ^[c]angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, ^(W)“Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit

9 Then the fifth angel sounded: ^(A)And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to ^(B)the ^[a]bottomless pit. ² And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the ^(C)sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. ³ Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, ^(D)as the scorpions of the earth have power. ⁴ They were commanded ^(E)not to harm ^(F)the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have ^(G)the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ And ^[b]they were not given authority to kill them, ^(H)but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶ In those days ^(I)men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

^7 (J)The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. ^(K)On their heads were crowns of something like gold, ^(L)and their faces were like the faces of men. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and ^(M)their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was ^(N)like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. ¹¹ And they had as king over them ^(O)the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is ^[c]Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name ^[d]Apollyon.

^12 (P)One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the ^(Q)golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound ^(R)at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a ^(S)third of mankind. ¹⁶ Now ^(T)the number of the army ^(U)of the horsemen was two hundred million; ^(V)I heard the number of them. ¹⁷ And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; ^(W)and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For ^[e]their power is in their mouth and in their tails; ^(X)for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

²⁰ But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^(Y)did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship ^(Z)demons, ^(AA)and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders ^(AB)or their ^[f]sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.