The Fifth Trumpet

1The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.a The key for the shaft to the abyssb was given to him. 2He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a greatA furnacea so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.b 3Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth,a and powerA was given to themb like the power that scorpions have on the earth.c 4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree,a but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.b 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.a

7The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.a Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces; 8they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth;a 9they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; 10and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. 11They had as their kingA the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,B a and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.C

12The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.a

The Sixth Trumpet

13The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the fourA horns of the golden altara that is before God, I heard a voice 14say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angelsa bound at the great river Euphrates.”b 15So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and yeara were released to kill a thirdb of the human race. 16The number of mounted troops was two hundred million;A 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.a 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.

20The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their handsa to stop worshiping demonsb and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood,c which cannot see, hear, or walk.d 21And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.