Revelation 9

¹⁰Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

⁷or, ‘Who will descend into the Abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”

²The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

¹But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.

²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

¹⁸the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

¹¹They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.

¹²The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to follow.

¹⁰Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.

²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

²a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.

³¹Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

³⁰I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

¹⁹I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

⁵The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion.

⁴What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

¹⁵He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

²⁵I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.

¹¹Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

⁴But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.

⁵They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields.

⁴“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the Lord, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

²And I saw another angel ascending from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:

³“Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have placed a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

¹Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

²³When the Lord passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

⁷Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.

⁶Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

¹⁰They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.

⁶“Very well,” said the Lord to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”

³And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.

¹⁸As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.

¹⁹Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.

⁵The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months.

⁷Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

³⁰At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

³And wherever I have banished them, the remnant of this evil family will choose death over life,” declares the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁶And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

¹⁹Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

⁸The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

¹⁵so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.

¹⁶I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

⁸While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.

¹⁷Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

⁴The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man and given the mind of a man.

⁴Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds.

⁵With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.

⁶For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness.

³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,

¹⁴Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

¹⁵but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

³⁰Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.

⁹Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

²⁴Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.

⁵With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.

⁶Nations writhe in horror before them; every face turns pale.

¹⁷Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and sulfur.

²⁵At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shouts of captains and the cry of war.

⁴The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.

⁵He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

¹⁸His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are rods of iron.

⁵For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

⁵The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion.

³And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.

¹⁹For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to inflict harm.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

¹Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss.

²The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.

⁴⁴You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

³⁰I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on Me.

⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

¹⁴The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.

¹³And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!”

¹³Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God

¹⁴saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

³Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.

⁴And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.

²It is to be square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high. Its horns must be of one piece.

³Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it.

¹Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss.

²⁴For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

¹²And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.

¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

³David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who had marched out to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River.

⁶³When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates.

¹After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back its four winds so that no wind would blow on land or sea or on any tree.

¹⁸A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths.

⁷Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.

⁹a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹¹The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters.

¹²Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well.

¹⁰They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.

⁴And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel:

¹⁷The chariots of God are tens of thousands—thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.

¹⁰A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.

⁴I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army—your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all brandishing their swords.

¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels encircling the throne, and the living creatures and the elders. And their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.

⁴⁰At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading many countries and sweeping through them like a flood.

¹⁸A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths.

¹⁰he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

⁸Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the wilderness. They were mighty men of valor, trained for battle, experts with the shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were as swift as gazelles on the mountains:

⁸But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

²⁰But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

²⁴Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.

¹⁷Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and sulfur.

¹⁵So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

¹⁵The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

¹⁰They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

²³Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

²⁹For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

¹Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

²¹Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.

¹⁶I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, and they have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

⁸But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁵And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

¹⁵But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

²¹I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

²The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”

⁹These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.