Revelation 9:1–12

9Then 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.^{d 2*}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*Locusts came down out of the smoke upon the earth, and they were given the same kind of power that scorpions have. ^4*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. ⁵The 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*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*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*Their hair was like women’s hair, their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ^9*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. ¹⁰They 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. ¹¹They 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”).

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