Revelation 9:1–12

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.^a The star was given the key^b to the shaft of the Abyss.^{c 2}When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.^d The sun and sky were darkened^e by the smoke from the Abyss.^{f 3}And out of the smoke locusts^g came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions^h of the earth. ⁴They were told not to harmⁱ the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,^j but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{k 5}They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.^l And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion^m when it strikes. ⁶During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.ⁿ

⁷The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.^o On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.^{p 8}Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.^{q 9}They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.^{r 10}They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.^{s 11}They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,^t whose name in Hebrew^u is Abaddon^v and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

¹²The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.^w