1The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.9:1 Is 14:12; Lk 10:18; Rv 8:10 The key for the shaft to the abyss9:1 Lk 8:31; Rm 10:7; Rv 9:11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1–3 was given to him.

2He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great9:2 Other mss omit great furnace9:2 Gn 19:28; Ex 19:18 so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.9:2 Jl 2:2,10

3Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth,9:3 Ex 10:1–20; Dt 28:42; 1Kg 8:37; Ps 78:46 and power9:3 Or authority, also in v. 10 was given to them9:3 Mt 10:1; 28:18; Rv 6:8 like the power that scorpions have on the earth.9:3 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,9:4 Rv 6:6; 7:3 but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.9:4 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 stings someone.

6In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.9:6 Jb 3:20–22; Rv 6:16

13The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four9:13 Other mss omit four horns of the golden altar9:13 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 angels9:14 Rv 7:1–2 bound at the great river Euphrates.”9:14 Rv 16:12

15So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year9:15 Gn 7:11; 2Kg 25:1; Jr 39:2; 52:4,12,31 were released to kill a third9:15 Rv 8:7–12 of the human race.

16The number of mounted troops was two hundred million;9:16 Other mss read a hundred million I heard their number.

17This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.9:17 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, because their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads that inflict injury.