Revelation, 9

1. Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. It was given the key for the passage to the abyss.

1. Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven onto the earth, and the angel was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss.

2. It opened the passage to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the passage like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the passage.

2. When he unlocked the shaft of the Abyss, smoke rose out of the Abyss like the smoke from a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss,

3. Locusts came out of the smoke onto the land, and they were given the same power as scorpions of the earth.

3. and out of the smoke dropped locusts onto the earth: they were given the powers that scorpions have on the earth:

4. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

4. they were forbidden to harm any fields or crops or trees and told to attack only those people who were without God's seal on their foreheads.

5. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torment them for five months; the torment they inflicted was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person.

5. They were not to kill them, but to give them anguish for five months, and the anguish was to be the anguish of a scorpion's sting.

6. During that time these people will seek death but will not find it, and they will long to die but death will escape them.

6. When this happens, people will long for death and not find it anywhere; they will want to die and death will evade them.

7. The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,

7. These locusts looked like horses armoured for battle; they had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked human,

8. and they had hair like women's hair. Their teeth were like lions' teeth,

8. and their hair was like women's hair, and teeth like lion's teeth.

9. and they had chests like iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots racing into battle.

9. They had body-armour like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings sounded like the racket of chariots with many horses charging.

10. They had tails like scorpions, with stingers; with their tails they had power to harm people for five months.

10. Their tails were like scorpions' tails, with stings, and with their tails they were able to torture people for five months.

11. They had as their king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon.

11. As their leader they had their emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon.

12. The first woe has passed, but there are two more to come.

12. That was the first of the disasters; there are still two more to come.

13. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the [four] horns of the gold altar before God,

13. The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice issuing from the four horns of the golden altar in God's presence.

14. telling the sixth angel who held the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the banks of the great river Euphrates."

14. It spoke to the sixth angel with the trumpet, and said, 'Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates.'

15. So the four angels were released, who were prepared for this hour, day, month, and year to kill a third of the human race.

15. These four angels had been ready for this hour of this day of this month of this year, and ready to destroy a third of the human race.

16. The number of cavalry troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.

16. I learnt how many there were in their army: twice ten thousand times ten thousand mounted men.

17. Now in my vision this is how I saw the horses and their riders. They wore red, blue, and yellow breastplates, and the horses' heads were like heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.

17. In my vision I saw the horses, and the riders with their breastplates of flame colour, hyacinth-blue and sulphur-yellow; the horses had lions' heads, and fire, smoke and sulphur were coming from their mouths.

18. By these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths a third of the human race was killed.

18. It was by these three plagues, the fire, the smoke and the sulphur coming from their mouths, that the one third of the human race was killed.

19. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes, with heads that inflict harm.

19. All the horses' power was in their mouths and their tails: their tails were like snakes, and had heads which inflicted wounds.

20. The rest of the human race, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, to give up the worship of demons and idols made from gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

20. But the rest of the human race, who escaped death by these plagues, refused either to abandon their own handiwork or to stop worshipping devils, the idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood that can neither see nor hear nor move.

21. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic potions, their unchastity, or their robberies.

21. Nor did they give up their murdering, or witchcraft, or fornication or stealing.