Revelation 9

9 ¹The fifth angel trumpeted, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. ²He opened the abyss's shaft, and smoke rose like smoke from a great furnace; the sun and air were darkened by the shaft's smoke. ³And locusts came from the smoke onto the earth, given power like earth's scorpions. ⁴They were told not to harm the earth's grass, green plants, or trees—only people without our Father's seal on their foreheads. ^a a v4 The seal marks those who belong to our Father — the same sealing of his servants described in chapter 7. ⁵They were not permitted to kill them, but to torment them five months—torment like a scorpion's sting when it strikes someone. ⁶In those days people will seek death and not find it, will long to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷The locusts resembled horses ready for war; on their heads were crowns like gold, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. ⁹They had breastplates like iron, and their wings sounded like many horses and chariots rushing to battle. ¹⁰Their tails resembled scorpions and bore stingers; in them was power to harm people five months. ¹¹Their king is the angel of the abyss—Destruction in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek. ^b b v11 Both names mean "Destroyer."

¹²The first woe has passed; look, two more woes are still to come after these things.

¹³Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before our Father, ¹⁴telling the sixth angel with the trumpet, "Free the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates."

¹⁵The four angels prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶The number of the troops of cavalry was 200 million; I heard their number. ¹⁷This is how I saw the horses in the vision and their riders: breastplates the color of fire, sapphire, and sulfur; the horses' heads were like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸These three plagues killed a third of mankind—the fire, smoke, and sulfur from their mouths. ¹⁹The horses' power is in their mouths and tails—their tails, like snakes, have heads, and with them they harm.

²⁰The rest of humanity, not killed by these plagues, still refused to turn from what their hands had made—worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which can't see, hear, or walk. ²¹Nor did they repent of their murders, their witchcraft, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.