Revelation 9

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and the star was given the key to the shaft that leads down into the deep pit.

1And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

Note"Bottomless pit" translates the Greek word abyssos, the abyss: a deep place imagined below the earth and used in Jewish writing of the period as a holding prison for evil spirits. The Greek phrase is literally "the shaft of the abyss," picturing a well or mine shaft with an opening that can be locked. The King James "I saw a star fall" can be misread as an event John watches happening; the Greek participle is past, a star that had already fallen, and John sees it after the fall.

2He opened the shaft of the deep pit, and smoke poured up out of it like the smoke of a huge furnace. The sun and the air turned dark because of the smoke from the pit.

2And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

NoteA furnace here is a large kiln or smelting oven, the hottest fire an ancient reader knew, giving off thick black smoke.

3Out of the smoke came locusts, which spread over the earth. They were given power like the power that scorpions on the earth have.

3And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

NoteLocust swarms were a recognized catastrophe in the ancient Near East: millions of insects stripping every green thing and leaving famine behind. The point of the following verses is the reversal of that expectation, since these locusts are forbidden to touch plants and attack people instead. A scorpion's sting is savagely painful but, for the species common in that region, rarely deadly.

4They were ordered not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree. They could harm only the people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads.

4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Note"The seal of God in their foreheads" refers back to the marking of God's servants earlier in the book. A seal was an owner's stamp pressed into wax or clay; slaves and soldiers were sometimes branded or tattooed to show whose they were.

5The locusts were not allowed to kill those people, only to torture them for five months. The pain they caused was like the pain of a scorpion's sting.

5And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

NoteFive months is roughly the span of a locust season in that part of the world, from spring hatching to the death of the swarm in late summer.

6In those days people will look for a way to die and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will keep slipping away from them.

6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore what looked like crowns made of gold, and their faces looked like human faces.

7And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

Note"Shapes" in 1611 English means overall appearance or form, not outline only.

8They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.

8And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9Their chests were covered like armor made of iron. The sound of their wings was like the noise of many horses and chariots charging into battle.

9And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

Note"Breastplates" is armor worn over the chest. The comparison of locust wings to rushing chariots echoes the description of a locust plague in the book of Joel, which ancient readers would have known.

10They had tails like scorpions, with stingers in them. Their power to hurt people with those tails lasted five months.

10And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

11They had a king ruling over them: the angel of the deep pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek his name is Apollyon.

11And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

NoteAbaddon is a Hebrew word meaning destruction or ruin; in the Hebrew scriptures it is used as a name for the place of the dead, alongside Sheol. Apollyon is a Greek word meaning destroyer. The two names say the same thing in the two languages.

12The first woe is over. Look, two more woes are still coming after this.

12One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Note"Woe" is a cry of grief or a pronouncement of doom, the sort of exclamation a prophet makes over a doomed city, stronger than the modern word "trouble."

13Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four corner points of the gold altar that stands in front of God.

13And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

NoteThe golden altar is the incense altar, described in Exodus as standing inside the sanctuary in front of the innermost room. Its four corners had upward projections called horns; blood was smeared on them in certain rituals, and a fugitive could claim protection by grabbing hold of them.

14The voice said to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, "Set free the four angels who are tied up at the great river Euphrates."

14Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

NoteThe Euphrates marked the eastern edge of Roman territory. Beyond it lay Parthia, whose mounted archers were the most feared cavalry known to a first-century reader, and an invasion crossing that river was a standing fear in the region.

15So the four angels were set free. They had been kept ready for this exact hour, day, month, and year, so that they could kill a third of all people.

15And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

NoteThe Greek phrase is genuinely ambiguous and has been read both ways: either the angels were held ready for one precise moment (the hour, day, month and year appointed for them), or they were released to kill over a stretch of time made up of those units. The King James wording preserves the ambiguity rather than settling it.

16The number of soldiers on horseback was two hundred million. I heard the number given.

16And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

Note"Two hundred thousand thousand" is the King James way of writing two hundred thousand times a thousand, that is two hundred million. The Greek says "two myriads of myriads"; a myriad is ten thousand, and was also used loosely for a countless crowd.

17This is how the horses and their riders looked in the vision: the riders wore chest armor that was fiery red, dark blue, and sulfur yellow. The horses' heads were like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and burning sulfur came out of their mouths.

17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

NoteJacinth is a gemstone of a dark blue or smoky violet color, named from the hyacinth flower. "Brimstone" is the old English word for sulfur, which burns with a yellow flame and a choking stench. The three colors of the riders' armor match the three things coming out of the horses' mouths: fire red, smoke dark, sulfur yellow.

18A third of all people were killed by these three things, the fire, the smoke, and the burning sulfur that came out of the horses' mouths.

18By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails were like snakes, with heads on them, and they used those heads to injure people.

19For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

20The rest of the people, the ones not killed by these disasters, still did not change their ways or turn from what their own hands had made. They kept worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

20And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Note"Devils" in the King James is the regular translation of the Greek daimonia, demons, meaning malevolent spirits rather than a single devil. "Brass" in 1611 English means bronze, the copper and tin alloy used for statues and tools. "Repented not" means they did not change their minds and turn around, not that they felt no regret; the Greek word is about reversing direction.

21They also did not turn away from their murders, their magic spells, their sexual sin, or their stealing.

21Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Note"Sorceries" translates the Greek pharmakeia, which covered drugs, potions and spell-craft together, the same root that gives us the word pharmacy. "Fornication" translates porneia, a broad term for sexual conduct outside marriage of any kind, wider than the modern English word.