1The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. Is 14:12; Lk 10:18; Rv 8:10 The key to the shaft of the abyss Lk 8:31; Rm 10:7; Rv 9:11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1-3 was given to him.

2He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great Other mss omit great furnace Gn 19:28; Ex 19:18 so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. Jl 2:2,10

3Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, Ex 10:1-20; Dt 28:42; 1Kg 8:37; Ps 78:46 and power Or authority was given to them Mt 10:1; 28:18; Rv 6:8 like the power that scorpions have on the earth. Dt 8:15; Ezk 2:6; Lk 10:19

4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, Rv 6:6; 7:3 but only people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads. Rv 7:3

5They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it strikes a man.

6In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. Jb 3:20-22; Rv 6:16

7The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle. Jl 2:4-5 Something like gold crowns was on their heads; their faces were like men’s faces;

8they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth; Jl 1:6

9they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle;

10and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power Or authority to harm people for five months.

11They had as their king Or as king over them the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, Or destruction Jb 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps 88:11; Pr 15:11; 27:20 and in Greek he has the name Apollyon. Or destroyer

12The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this. Rv 8:13; 11:14

13The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four Other mss omit four horns of the gold altar Ex 39:38; 40:5 that is before God, I heard a voice

14say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels Rv 7:1-2 bound at the great river Euphrates.” Rv 16:12

15So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year Gn 7:11; 2Kg 25:1; Jr 39:2; 52:4,12,31 were released to kill a third Rv 8:7-12 of the human race.

16The number of mounted troops was 200 million; Other mss read 100 million I heard their number.

17This is how I saw the horses in my vision: The horsemen had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. Gn 19:24; Dt 29:23; Jb 18:15; Ps 11:6; Is 34:9; Lk 17:29; Rv 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8

18A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues — by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths.

19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads, and they inflict injury with them.

20The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands 1Kg 13:33; 2Ch 34:25; Ps 7:12; Jr 1:16; Rv 16:9,11 to stop worshiping demons 1Co 10:20 and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, Dt 29:17; Dn 2:32,35,45; Hab 2:19; Ac 17:29 which are not able to see, hear, or walk. Dt 4:28; Ps 115:4-7; 135:15-17; Dn 5:23

21And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, Or magic potions, or drugs ; Gk pharmakon their sexual immorality, or their thefts.