Beginning

9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The key to the big hole that has no bottom was given to the angel.

² He opened the big hole and smoke came out. It was like the smoke of a very big fire. The sun and the air were made dark by the smoke from the big hole.

³ Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth like big grasshoppers. They were given the power to hurt people the way that scorpions do.

⁴ They were told not to spoil any of the grass, nor any green plant, nor any tree on earth. They were told to hurt only the people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads.

⁵ They were told not to kill them, but to trouble them for five months. The pain they give is like the pain a scorpion gives when it strikes a person.

⁶ In those days people will look for death, but they will not be able to find it. They will want to die, but death will fly away from them.

⁷ The locusts looked like horses ready to go to war. On their heads were gold crowns. And they had faces like people.

⁸ Their hair was like women's hair and their teeth like lions' teeth.

⁹ Their bodies were covered by something like pieces of iron. The noise of their wings sounded like many wagons and horses running to war.

¹⁰ The locusts had tails like scorpions that could strike people and hurt them for five months.

¹¹ The king of the locusts is the angel of the big hole that has no bottom. His name is Abaddon in the Jew's language and Apollyon in the Greek language. (This means, the one who destroys.)

¹² The first trouble is gone. Two more troubles are coming after it.

¹³ The sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar in front of God.

¹⁴ The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, `Untie the four angels who are tied at the big river Euphrates.'

¹⁵ So the four angels were let free. They were ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year when they would kill a third of the people.

¹⁶ In their army were many, many thousands of men on horses. I heard the number of them.

¹⁷ I saw what the horses and the men that sat on them looked like. The bodies of the men were covered by pieces of iron that looked red like fire and blue, and yellow. The heads of the horses were like lions' heads. Fire, smoke and dust came out of their mouths. The dust was sulphur which choked and killed people when it burned in the fire.

¹⁸ By these three big troubles a third part of the people were killed. They were killed by the fire, smoke, and choking sulphur dust that came out of the mouths of the horses.

¹⁹ The power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails have heads and are like snakes. They hurt people with them.

²⁰ The other people were not killed by these big troubles. But they did not stop worshipping what they had made with their hands. They did not stop worshipping bad spirits and idols made of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood. These idols cannot see or hear or walk.

²¹ And they did not stop their killing, or their witchcraft, or their wrong ways of using sex, or their stealing.

10 Then I saw another strong angel coming down from the sky. A cloud was around him and a rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun and his legs were like posts of fire.

² In his hand he had a small book that was open. He put his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land.

³ He called in a very loud voice like a lion roaring. When he called, it was like the voices of seven thunders.

⁴ When the seven thunders had spoken, I was going to write down what they said. But I heard a voice from the sky that said, `Do not tell what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down.'

⁵ The angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward the sky.

⁶ He made a promise in the name of the one who lives for ever and ever. He made it in the name of the one who made the sky and everything in it, who made the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, `There is no more time.

⁷ But when the seventh angel calls by blowing his trumpet, then the secret plan of God will be finished. It will happen just as God told his servants, the prophets.'

⁸ The voice I heard in the sky talked to me again. It said, `Go to the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. Take the open book from his hand.'

⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. He said to me, `Take it and eat it. It will be bitter inside you, but it will be sweet like honey in your mouth.'

¹⁰ So I took the little book from the angel's hand and ate it. It was sweet like honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

¹¹ Then he said to me, `You must tell again what God is saying to many nations, countries, languages, and kings.'

11 Then I was given a long stick. And he said, `Go and measure God's temple and the altar, and count the people who worship there.

² Do not measure the part outside the temple. Leave it out, because it has been given to the people who do not believe in God. They will walk in the holy city for forty-two months.

³ I will give power to the two men who speak for me. They will speak words from God. They will continue to speak for forty-two months. They will wear clothes like people wear to show they are sad.'

⁴ These two men are the two olive trees and the two lamps which stand in front of the Lord of the earth.

⁵ If any one wants to hurt them, fire comes out of their mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed in this way.

⁶ These two men can stop the sky from raining all the days that they speak words from God. And they can turn the water into blood. They can bring all kinds of trouble to the earth as often as they want.

⁷ There is a beast which is a wild animal in the big hole that has no bottom. When the two men have finished talking, the beast will come up out of the hole. It will fight with the men. It will win over them and kill them.

⁸ Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the big city. This city is called, `Sodom' and `Egypt,' because it is like them. Also it is where our Lord was nailed to a cross.

⁹ People from many nations, tribes, languages, and countries will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days. They will not let anyone bury them.

¹⁰ The people on earth will be very glad to see them dead. They will have a happy time. They will give gifts to each other because these two men from God had troubled the people on the earth.

¹¹ But after the three and a half days, life came into them. They stood on their feet. And all those who saw them were very much afraid.

¹² Then they heard a loud voice from the sky saying to them, `Come up here!' They went up into the sky in a cloud. And the men who hated them saw them go up.

¹³ At that time, the earth shook very much. A tenth part of the city fell down. Seven thousand people were killed by the shaking of the earth. The other people were very much afraid and they give glory to God in heaven.

¹⁴ The second trouble is gone. The third trouble is coming soon.

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. Loud voices were heard in the sky. They said, `The kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to his Christ. He will rule for ever and ever.'

¹⁶ Then the twenty-four leaders who sat on their thrones in front of God kneeled down and worshipped God.

¹⁷ They said, `We thank you, Lord God, who has all power. You live now and you always have lived. We thank you because you have now used your power and started to rule.

¹⁸ `The people who did not believe you became angry. But now you are angry. It is time for dead people to be judged. And it is time to reward your servants, the prophets of God, and your holy people and all who respect your name - those who are great and those who are not so great. It is time to destroy those who destroy the earth.'

¹⁹ Then the temple of God in heaven was opened. The box where his agreement was kept was seen inside the temple. And there was lightning, loud noises, and thunder. The earth shook and much rain, like stones, fell.

12 I saw a wonderful thing in the sky. A woman was wearing the sun like a dress. She stood on the moon. On her head she had twelve stars in a big ring like a crown. She was going to have a baby.

² She cried out in pain because it was time for the baby to be born.

³ And another wonderful thing was seen in the sky. It was a big red dragon. He had seven heads and ten horns. He had seven big rings on his heads.

⁴ His tail struck a third part of the stars from the sky to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who would soon have a baby. He wanted to eat her baby when it was born.

⁵ Then her baby boy was born. He will rule all the countries with an iron stick. Her child was taken up to God, to God's throne.

⁶ The woman ran away into the wilderness. There God had made a place ready for her. There she will have food for forty-two months.

⁷ Then there was fighting in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back.

⁸ But they did not win the fight and no longer were they allowed to stay in heaven.

⁹ The dragon was thrown down. He was that old snake who is called the devil and Satan. He fools all the people in the world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰ I heard a loud voice in the sky. It said, `Now the time has come for God to save people. He will use his strength. His kingdom will come and his Christ will use his power. The one who says bad things about our brothers to God day and night has been thrown down.

¹¹ They have won the fight against him by the blood of the Lamb's death, and by what they said. They did not try to save their lives, but were willing to die.

¹² Heaven, and those who live in heaven, be glad because of it! Big trouble will come to the earth and sea! The devil has come down to you. He is very angry. He knows that he has only a short time!'

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth, he troubled the woman to whom a baby boy had been born.

¹⁴ But the woman was given two wings like a big eagle's wings. With them she could fly away from the dragon into the wilderness to her place where she would have food for three and a half periods of time.

¹⁵ The dragon poured water like a river out of his mouth after her. He wanted the water to carry her away.

¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman. It opened a big hole. And the river which the dragon had poured out of his mouth went down the hole.

¹⁷ Then the dragon was very angry with the woman. He went away to fight against the other children of the woman. They are the ones who keep the laws of God and tell the truth about Jesus.