9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
NOTES:
9:1–12 The fifth trumpet heralds a woe containing elements
from the eighth and ninth plagues of Egypt (Ex 10:12–15, 21–23) but
specifically reminiscent of the invasion of locusts in Jl 1:4–2:10.
9:1 A star: late Judaism represented fallen powers as stars
(Is 14:12–15; Lk 10:18; Jude 13), but a comparison with Rev 1:20 and Rev 20:1
suggests that here it means an angel. The passage to the abyss: referring to
Sheol, the netherworld, where Satan and the fallen angels are kept for a
thousand years, to be cast afterwards into the pool of fire; cf. Rev 20:7–10.
The abyss was conceived of as a vast subterranean cavern full of fire. Its only
link with the earth was a kind of passage or mine shaft, which was kept locked.
9:3 Scorpions: their poisonous sting was proverbial; Ez 2:6;
Lk 11:12.
9:5 For five months: more or less corresponding to the
life-span of locusts.
9:7–10 Eight characteristics are listed to show the
eschatological and diabolical nature of these locusts.
9:11 Abaddon: Hebrew (more precisely, Aramaic) for
destruction or ruin. Apollyon: Greek for the “Destroyer.”
9:13–21 The sixth trumpet heralds a woe representing another
diabolical attack symbolized by an invasion by the Parthians living east of the
Euphrates; see note on Rev 6:2. At the appointed time (Rev 9:15), the frightful
horses act as God’s agents of judgment. The imaginative details are not to be
taken literally; see Introduction and the note on Rev 6:12–14.
9:13 [Four]: many Greek manuscripts and versions omit the
word. The horns were situated at the four corners of the altar (Ex 27:2;
30:2–3); see note on Rev 8:3.
9:14–15 The four angels: they are symbolic of the
destructive activity that will be extended throughout the universe.
9:17 Blue: literally, “hyacinth-colored.” Yellow: literally,
“sulfurous.”
9:20 The works of their hands: i.e., the gods their hands
had made.
BACK TO:
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholes (Acts 9:31)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment