Revelation 9
9
1-2The fifth Angel trumpeted. I saw a Star plummet from Heaven to earth. The Star was handed a key to the Well of the Abyss. He unlocked the Well of the Abyss—smoke poured out of the Well, billows and billows of smoke, sun and air in blackout from smoke pouring out of the Well.
3-6Then out of the smoke crawled locusts with the venom of scorpions. They were given their orders: “Don’t hurt the grass, don’t hurt anything green, don’t hurt a single tree—only men and women, and then only those who lack the seal of God on their foreheads.” They were ordered to torture but not kill, torture them for five months, the pain like a scorpion sting. When this happens, people are going to prefer death to torture, look for ways to kill themselves. But they won’t find a way—death will have gone into hiding.
7-11The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold crowns, human faces, women’s hair, the teeth of lions, and iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was the sound of horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months. They had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon—“Destroyer.”
12The first doom is past. Two dooms yet to come.
13-14The sixth Angel trumpeted. I heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden Altar before God: “Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels confined at the great River Euphrates.”
15-19The Four Angels were untied and let loose, Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they were to kill a third of the human race. The number of the army of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the count and saw both horses and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lion heads on the horses breathing out fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three weapons—fire and smoke and brimstone—they killed a third of the human race. The horses killed with their mouths and tails; their serpentlike tails also had heads that wreaked havoc.
20-21The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way—didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways.
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Revelation 9: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Revelation 9
9
The fifth and sixth trumpet plagues
1Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 2He opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke rose up from the shaft, like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. 3Then locusts came forth from the smoke and onto the earth. They were given power like the power that scorpions have on the earth. 4They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree. They could only hurt the people who didn’t have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5The locusts weren’t allowed to kill them, but only to make them suffer for five months—and the suffering they inflict is like that of a scorpion when it strikes a person. 6In those days people will seek death, but they won’t find it. They will want to die, but death will run away from them.
7The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads were what seemed to be gold crowns. Their faces were like human faces, 8their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9In front they had what seemed to be iron armor upon their chests, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots and horses racing into battle. 10They also have tails with stingers, just like scorpions; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months. 11Their king is an angel from the abyss, whose Hebrew name is Abaddon,#9.11 Destruction and whose Greek name is Apollyon.#9.11 Destroyer
12The first horror has passed. Look! Two horrors are still coming after this.
13Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15Then the four angels who had been made ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of humankind. 16The number of cavalry troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. 17And this is the way I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: they had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The horses’ heads were like lions’ heads, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed: by the fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19The horses’ power is in their mouths and their tails, for their tails are like snakes with heads that inflict injuries.
20The rest of humankind, who weren’t killed by these plagues, didn’t change their hearts and lives and turn from their handiwork. They didn’t stop worshipping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can’t see or hear or walk. 21They didn’t turn away from their murders, their spells and drugs, their sexual immorality, or their stealing.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.