Revelation 9
9
1When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star#9.1 star: In the ancient world, stars were often thought of as living beings, such as angels. fall from the sky to earth. It was given the key to the tunnel that leads down to the deep pit. 2#Gn 19.28; 2 Esd 7.36. As it opened the tunnel, smoke poured out like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air turned dark because of the smoke. 3#Ex 10.12-15; Ws 16.9. Locusts#9.3 Locusts: A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to crops. came out of the smoke and covered the earth. They were given the same power that scorpions have.
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Ez 9.4. The locusts were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or any tree. They were to punish only those people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads. 5The locusts were allowed to make them suffer for five months, but not to kill them. The suffering they caused was like the sting of a scorpion. 6#Job 3.21; Jr 8.3. In those days people will want to die, but they will not be able to. They will hope for death, but it will escape from them.
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Jl 2.4. These locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore something like gold crowns, and they had human faces. 8#Jl 1.6. Their hair was like a woman's long hair, and their teeth were like those of a lion. 9#Jl 2.5. On their chests they wore armor made of iron. Their wings roared like an army of horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. 10Their tails were like a scorpion's tail with a stinger that had the power to hurt someone for five months. 11Their king was the angel in charge of the deep pit. In Hebrew his name was Abaddon, and in Greek it was Apollyon.#9.11 Abaddon … Apollyon: The Hebrew word “Abaddon” and the Greek word “Apollyon” each mean “destruction.”
12The first horrible thing has now happened! But wait. Two more horrible things will happen soon.
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Ex 30.1-3. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice speak from the four corners of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. 14The voice spoke to this angel and said, “Release the four angels who are tied up beside the great Euphrates River.” 15The four angels had been prepared for this very hour and day and month and year. Now they were set free to kill a third of all people.
16By listening, I could tell there were more than 200,000,000 war horses. 17#Ws 11.17,18. In my vision their riders wore fiery-red, dark-blue, and yellow armor on their chests. The heads of the horses looked like lions, with fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 18One third of all people were killed by the three terrible troubles caused by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. 19The horses had powerful mouths, and their tails were like poisonous snakes that bite and hurt.
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Ps 115.4-7; 135.15-17; Dn 5.23. The people who lived through these terrible troubles did not turn away from the idols they had made, and they did not stop worshiping demons. They kept on worshiping idols that were made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. Not one of these idols could see, hear, or walk. 21No one stopped murdering or practicing witchcraft or being immoral or stealing.
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Revelation 9: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Revelation 9
9
The Fifth Trumpet Begins the First Terror
1The fifth angel blew his trumpet. Then I saw a star fall from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the deep hole that leads down to the bottomless pit. 2Then the star opened the hole leading to the pit. Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace. The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole.
3Then locusts came out of the smoke and went down to the earth. They were given the power to sting like scorpions. 4They were told not to damage the fields of grass or any plant or tree. They were to hurt only those who did not have God’s mark on their foreheads. 5They were not given the power to kill them but only to cause them pain for five months—pain like a person feels when stung by a scorpion. 6During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it. They will want to die, but death will hide from them.
7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something that looked like a gold crown. Their faces looked like human faces. 8Their hair was like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9Their chests looked like iron breastplates. The sound their wings made was like the noise of many horses and chariots hurrying into battle. 10The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions. The power they had to give people pain for five months was in their tails. 11They had a ruler, who was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon.#9:11 Abaddon A Hebrew name meaning “death” or “destruction.” See Job 26:6 and Ps. 88:11. In Greek it is Apollyon.#9:11 Apollyon A name that means “destroyer.”
12The first terror is now past. There are still two other terrors to come.
The Sixth Trumpet Blast
13The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the horns on the four corners of the golden altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates.” 15These four angels had been kept ready for this hour and day and month and year. The angels were set free to kill a third of all the people on the earth. 16I heard how many troops on horses were in their army. There were 200,000,000.
17In my vision, I saw the horses and the riders on the horses. They looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions. The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 18A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues coming out of the horses’ mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. 19The horses’ power was in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails were like snakes that have heads to bite and hurt people.
20The other people on earth were not killed by these plagues. But these people still did not change their hearts and turn away from worshiping the things they had made with their own hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see or hear or walk. 21They did not change their hearts and turn away from killing other people or from their evil magic, their sexual sins, and their stealing.
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