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Revelation 9

KJV · Chapter 9/22

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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:

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

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The fifth trumpet releases monstrous locusts from the abyss that torment, but do not kill, the people without God's seal, for five months. The sixth trumpet unleashes an army of two hundred million demonic horsemen who kill a third of humanity, yet the survivors still do not repent.

Explanation

The bizarre description of the locusts — with crowns, human faces, women's hair, lions' teeth, iron breastplates, and scorpion tails — uses language highly typical of Jewish apocalyptic literature to describe intense spiritual and psychological torment, more than a literal creature to be identified. The name of the king of these beings, Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek, both meaning 'destruction' or 'destroyer,' reinforces his role as an agent of chaos coming from the abyss, not from God directly. The saddest point of the chapter is its ending: even after suffering such severe judgments, surviving humanity still does not repent of idolatry, sorcery, immorality, and theft, showing just how hard the human heart can become even in the face of evident calamity. Today's practical application is that judgments and suffering alone do not guarantee repentance; a change of heart requires a voluntary response to God's grace.

Fun facts

  • The names 'Abaddon' (Hebrew) and 'Apollyon' (Greek), both mentioned in verse 11, literally mean 'destruction' and 'destroyer'; 'Abaddon' also appears elsewhere in the Old Testament, such as in Job 26:6 and Proverbs 15:11, as a poetic synonym for the realm of the dead.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Revelation 9:1The abyss was, in Jewish thought, a kind of underground prison where forces of chaos were locked away. Giving someone the key means authorizing the opening of something that until then had been sealed shut.
  2. Revelation 9:2The smoke coming out of the abyss, compared to the smoke of a great furnace, darkens the sun and the air, echoing the same idea of the abyss as a prison of destructive forces, already mentioned in verse 1.
  3. Revelation 9:3Locusts were one of the most feared disasters of antiquity, another reference to the plagues of Egypt, in Exodus. But these act the opposite of real locusts: they do not eat plants, only torment people, a sign that the scene is symbolic, not a description of real insects.
  4. Revelation 9:4Unlike real locusts, which would eat plants, these creatures are ordered not to touch vegetation, only people without the protective seal described in chapter 7 - a sign that the scene is symbolic, and the seal determines who is affected.
  5. Revelation 9:5The torment is limited - five months - and not fatal, compared to the pain of a scorpion's sting, an intense but not final suffering.
  6. Revelation 9:6This describes suffering so great that death, normally seen as the worst possible fate, becomes something desired and yet unattainable.
  7. Revelation 9:7The comparison to horses prepared for battle and crowns of golden appearance builds an image of an organized, threatening army, even though it is made up of symbolic creatures.
  8. Revelation 9:8Hair like a woman's and teeth like a lion's continue building this hybrid creature, mixing human and animal features in a deliberately strange and frightening way.
  9. Revelation 9:9The breastplates of iron and the noise compared to chariots of war reinforce the same idea of overwhelming military force used in the previous verses.
  10. Revelation 9:10This closes the physical description of these creatures by repeating the scorpion image already used in verse 5, with tails capable of harming for a limited period of five months.
  11. Revelation 9:11The two names, one in Hebrew and one in Greek, mean the same thing: ‘Destruction’ or ‘Destroyer.’ The text itself translates the symbol for the reader, naming this king by what he does, without tying him to any specific place or time.
  12. Revelation 9:12This marks the end of the first “woe” announced in the previous chapter, warning that two more similar laments are still to come.
  13. Revelation 9:13The sixth trumpet brings a voice coming from the four corners (“horns”) of the golden altar, the same altar from which the prayers of the saints rose at the beginning of chapter 8.
  14. Revelation 9:14The Euphrates River was the historical eastern border of the Roman Empire, and in Israel's memory, the direction from which the great invading empires of the past had come, such as Assyria and Babylon. That is why it became the natural symbol of danger coming from the east for the earliest readers.
  15. Revelation 9:15Four angels, bound until then, are released at an exact, already determined moment, “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,” to cause the death of a third of humanity - a detail suggesting a predetermined plan, not a random event.
  16. Revelation 9:16The number given, two hundred million, is an exaggerated way of conveying an impossibly large army, typical of apocalyptic language, which uses extreme numbers for emphasis.
  17. Revelation 9:17The colors of the breastplates - fire, jacinth (a bluish tone), and brimstone - combined with lions' heads spewing fire, smoke, and brimstone, form an image of visual terror more than a literal description of a real army.
  18. Revelation 9:18This sums up the devastating effect of these three plagues coming out of the horses' mouths - fire, smoke, and brimstone - responsible for the death of a third of humanity.
  19. Revelation 9:19This explains that the power of these creatures lies not only in their mouths but also in their tails, compared to serpents with heads of their own, capable of causing harm on their own.
  20. Revelation 9:20This mockery of idols that cannot see, hear, or walk also appears in Psalm 115. The point is to show how strange it is to keep worshiping objects made by human hands even after going through so many disasters.
  21. Revelation 9:21“Sorceries” translates a Greek word linked to the use of potions and drugs associated with the magical practices of the time; the list of sins the text says people did not give up shows that not even this level of suffering was enough to produce repentance.

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