Revelation 9

₁The 5th angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star falling from heaven onto the earth. God gave the star the key to open the deep hole that goes to the underworld. ₂The star opened the hole that led the way into the underworld. Then smoke came out of the hole. There was a lot of smoke, like smoke from a very big fire. And the sun and the sky became dark from the smoke that came out of the hole.

₃Locusts came to the earth out of the smoke. God gave the locusts the same power as the scorpions on the earth. ₄God told them not to eat the grass on earth or any green plants or trees. They could hurt only the people who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads. ₅God said they could hurt those people for 5 months, but they could not kill them. When they hurt the people, it was as painful as when a scorpion stings someone. ₆When that happened, people would wish that they were dead, but they would not die. Yes, they would wish to die but God would not let them die.

₇The locusts looked like horses that were ready to go to war. On each locust's head there was something that looked like a golden crown. Their faces looked like the faces of people. ₈The hair of the locusts looked like the hair of women and their teeth looked like the teeth of a lion. ₉It looked as if the locusts had iron breastplates. Their wings made a lot of noise like many war-chariots and horses that were going to war. ₁₀They had tails with stings like scorpions and these tails had the power to hurt people for 5 months. ₁₁The king of the locusts was the angel of the underworld. His name is Abaddon in the Hebrew language and Apollyon in the Greek language.

₁₂The first time of suffering has finished but there are still 2 more times of suffering that will come.

₁₃The 6th angel blew his trumpet and I heard someone talking among the 4 horns_of_the_altar. It was the golden altar in front of God. ₁₄He said to the 6th angel who had the trumpet: ‘God has tied 4 angels at the big Euphrates River. You must go and untie them.’

₁₅The 6th angel went and he untied the 4 angels. God had kept those 4 angels until this time, this day, this month and this year, so they could kill one 3rd of all the people. ₁₆There were a lot of soldiers on horses, millions and millions of soldiers. Someone told me how many there were. There were 200 million. ₁₇I saw the horses and the soldiers. The soldiers had breastplates that were bright red like fire, dark blue and yellow like sulphur. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulphur. ₁₈Yes, God punished the people with the fire and smoke and sulphur from the mouths of the horses. It killed one 3rd of all the people. ₁₉The horses used their mouths and their tails to hurt people. Their tails had heads like snakes and they bit the people and hurt them.

₂₀But the people who did not die from the fire and smoke and sulphur did not turn to God or start to live as He wanted them to live. They worshipped demons and idols that were made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, idols that could not see or hear or walk. ₂₁The people who were still_alive kept on killing other people, and they kept on using magic, living immorally and stealing.