Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star which had fallen down to the earth, and it was given the key to the abyss.^{[a] 2 (A)}The star opened the abyss, and smoke poured out of it, like the smoke from a large furnace; the sunlight and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss. ^3 (B)Locusts came down out of the smoke upon the earth, and they were given the same kind of power that scorpions have. ^4 (C)They were told not to harm the grass or the trees or any other plant; they could harm only the people who did not have the mark of God's seal on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were not allowed to kill these people, but only to torture them for five months. The pain caused by the torture is like the pain caused by a scorpion's sting. ^6 (D)During those five months they will seek death, but will not find it; they will want to die, but death will flee from them.

^7 (E)The locusts looked like horses ready for battle; on their heads they had what seemed to be crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. ^8 (F)Their hair was like women's hair, their teeth were like lions' teeth. ^9 (G)Their chests were covered with what looked like iron breastplates, and the sound made by their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails and stings like those of a scorpion, and it is with their tails that they have the power to hurt people for five months. ¹¹ They have a king ruling over them, who is the angel in charge of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon; in Greek the name is Apollyon (meaning “The Destroyer”).

¹² The first horror is over; after this there are still two more horrors to come.

^13 (H)Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice coming from the four corners of the gold altar standing before God. ¹⁴ The voice said to the sixth angel, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River!” ¹⁵ The four angels were released; for this very hour of this very day of this very month and year they had been kept ready to kill a third of all the human race. ¹⁶ I was told the number of the mounted troops: it was two hundred million. ^17 (I)And in my vision I saw the horses and their riders: they had breastplates red as fire, blue as sapphire, and yellow as sulfur. The horses' heads were like lions' heads, and from their mouths came out fire, smoke, and sulfur. ¹⁸ A third of the human race was killed by those three plagues: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur coming out of the horses' mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails are like snakes with heads, and they use them to hurt people.

^20 (J)The rest of the human race, all those who had not been killed by these plagues, did not turn away from what they themselves had made. They did not stop worshiping demons, nor the idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. ²¹ Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic, their sexual immorality, or their stealing.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down out of heaven. He was wrapped in a cloud and had a rainbow around his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like columns of fire. ² He had a small scroll open in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and called out in a loud voice that sounded like the roar of lions. After he had called out, the seven thunders answered with a roar. ⁴ As soon as they spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice speak from heaven, “Keep secret what the seven thunders have said; do not write it down!”

^5 (K)Then the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven ⁶ and took a vow in the name of God, who lives forever and ever, who created heaven, earth, and the sea, and everything in them. The angel said, “There will be no more delay! ⁷ But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, then God will accomplish his secret plan, as he announced to his servants, the prophets.”

^8 (L)Then the voice that I had heard speaking from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go and take the open scroll which is in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹ I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will turn sour in your stomach, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

¹⁰ I took the little scroll from his hand and ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey in my mouth. But after I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach. ¹¹ Then I was told, “Once again you must proclaim God's message about many nations, races, languages, and kings.”

The Two Witnesses

11 ^(M)I was then given a stick that looked like a measuring-rod, and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who are worshiping in the temple. ^2 (N)But do not measure the outer courts, because they have been given to the heathen, who will trample on the Holy City for forty-two months. ³ I will send my two witnesses dressed in sackcloth, and they will proclaim God's message during those 1, 260 days.”

^4 (O)The two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lamps that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and destroys their enemies; and in this way whoever tries to harm them will be killed. ^6 (P)They have authority to shut up the sky so that there will be no rain during the time they proclaim God's message. They have authority also over the springs of water, to turn them into blood; they have authority also to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

^7 (Q)When they finish proclaiming their message, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will fight against them. He will defeat them and kill them, ^8 (R)and their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, where their Lord was crucified. The symbolic name of that city is Sodom, or Egypt. ⁹ People from all nations, tribes, languages, and races will look at their bodies for three and a half days and will not allow them to be buried. ¹⁰ The people of the earth will be happy because of the death of these two. They will celebrate and send presents to each other, because those two prophets brought much suffering upon the whole human race. ^11 (S)After three and a half days a life-giving breath came from God and entered them, and they stood up; and all who saw them were terrified. ^12 (T)Then the two prophets heard a loud voice say to them from heaven, “Come up here!” As their enemies watched, they went up into heaven in a cloud. ^13 (U)At that very moment there was a violent earthquake; a tenth of the city was destroyed, and seven thousand people were killed. The rest of the people were terrified and praised the greatness of the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second horror is over, but the third horror will come soon!

The Seventh Trumpet

^15 (V)Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The power to rule over the world belongs now to our Lord and his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever!” ¹⁶ Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones in front of God threw themselves face downward and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying:

^19 (X)God's temple in heaven was opened, and the Covenant Box was seen there. Then there were flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.