Revelation 9:1–12

THE FIFTH TRUMPET

9The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.^y The key for the shaft to the abyss^z was given to him. ²He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great^B furnace^aa so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.^{ab 3}Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth,^ac and power was given to them^ad like the power that scorpions have on the earth.^{ae 4}They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree,^af but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.^{ag 5}They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.^ah

⁷The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.^a Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces; ⁸they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth;^{b 9}they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; ¹⁰and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. ¹¹They had as their king^D the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,^Ec and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.^F

¹²The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.^d