Revelation Chapter 9

Go to Verse 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

"If we in the West have no clear concept of what the Eastern Empire was, it is because it was completely overtaken first by the Arabs and then by the Turks. These conquests were one of the greatest seismic shifts in world history--the complete overlay of one culture by another--of a Romanized, Greek-speaking, Judeo-Christian culture by an Arabic- and Turkic-speaking Islamic one." Ted Danforth, The Eastern Question: A Geopolitical History in 108 Maps & Drawings, p. 116.

Verse 1

And 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.

"And the fifth angel sounded"

"And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth"

The Persian king Chosroes prevented the Mohammedan religion from overtaking his territory. This also protected the eastern Roman empire from an Islamic invasion. But when the Romans overthrew Chosroes in the year 628, they lost their protection against the Arabian Saracens.

"The name of Chosroes was suddenly to pass into oblivion before that of Mahomet; and the crescent seemed but to wait its rising till the falling of the star." Alexander Keith, The Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, Edinburgh: 1832, p. 281.

"The bottomless pit"

The Greek word here, abyssos, may refer to any waste, desolate, and uncultivated place. It was used in Genesis 1:2 (LXX) to describe the condition of the earth before the events of creation week. In the context of the present prophecy we will apply the term to the vast waste land of the Arabian desert.

Verse 2

And 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.

Verse 3

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

Verse 4

And 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.

Verse 5

And 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.

"Five months"

For an explanation of the time period given in this verse, see the chart, The Trumpets of Revelation Chapter 9. Point to each label on the chart for a brief explanation. A fuller description will be provided here later.

Verse 6

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

Verse 7

And 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.

Verse 8

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

Verse 9

And 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.

Verse 10

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

Verse 11

And 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.

Verse 12

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

Verse 13

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

Verse 14

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

Verse 15

And 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.

"An hour, and a day, and a month, and a year"

For an explanation of the time period given in this verse, see the chart, The Trumpets of Revelation Chapter 9. Point to each label on the chart for a brief explanation. A fuller description will be provided here later.

Verse 16

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

Verse 17

And 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.

Verse 18

By 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.

Verse 19

For 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.

Verse 20

And 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:

Verse 21

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