Revelation — Chapter 9
Loading ESV text...
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.
3And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.
4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
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.
6In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
7And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads; and their faces were like the faces of men.
8They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions.
9They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
10They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.
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.
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.”
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.
16And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
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.
18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths.
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.
20Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.
21Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
1And 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.
2And 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.
3And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4And 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.
5And 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.
6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7And 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.
8And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9And 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.
10And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11And 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.
12One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15And 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.
16And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
17And 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.
18By 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.
19For 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.
20And 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:
21Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
1And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.
2And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up 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.
3And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads.
5And it was given them 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 it striketh a man.
6And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them.
7And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as men`s faces.
8And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [teeth] of lions.
9And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war.
10And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.
11They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek [tongue] he hath the name Apollyon.
12The first Woe is past: behold, there come yet two Woes hereafter.
13And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14one saying to the sixth angel that had one trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.
15And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.
16And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them.
17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates [as] of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone.
18By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths.
19For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails are like unto serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt.
20And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk:
21and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
1Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss.
2He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.
3Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.
4They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead.
5The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person.
6In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces.
8They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
9They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle.
10They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails.
11They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
12The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things!
13Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God,
14saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!”
15Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity.
16The number of soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000; I heard their number.
17Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.
18A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths.
19For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.
20The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.
21Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.
1The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.
2He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit.
3Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads.
5They were given power, not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person.
6In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
7The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people’s faces.
8They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions.
9They had breastplates, like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, or of many horses rushing to war.
10They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails they have power to harm men for five months.
11They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”, but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon”.
12The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.
13The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!”
15The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind.
16The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.
17Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the horses’ heads resembled lions’ heads. Out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and sulfur.
18By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.
19For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm.
20The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can’t see, hear, or walk.
21They didn’t repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.
Summary
The fifth trumpet sounds, and a star that has fallen from heaven is given the key to the bottomless pit; when it opens, smoke pours out like from a great furnace, darkening the sun and air, and locusts emerge with power like scorpions, commanded not to harm vegetation but only people without God's seal, tormenting them for five months with pain so severe that people will seek death but be unable to find it (vv. 1-6). These locusts are described as having the appearance of horses arrayed for battle, crowns like gold, human faces, hair like women, teeth like lions, iron breastplates, wings that roar like chariots rushing to war, and scorpion-like tails, all ruled by a king named Abaddon, or Apollyon, the angel of the abyss (vv. 7-11). The first woe passes, and the sixth trumpet sounds, releasing four bound angels at the Euphrates who had been prepared for this exact hour to kill a third of humanity, backed by a massive cavalry whose horses breathe fire, smoke, and sulfur from their mouths and strike with tails like serpents (vv. 12-19). Despite this devastation, the rest of humanity refuses to repent of worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, or of their murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, and thefts (vv. 20-21).
Authorship & Background
Map & Geography
- Euphrates (v.14): Major river in Mesopotamia; boundary of the Promised Land.
Places on this map
- EuphratesTurkey, Syria, IraqThe longest river in western Asia, running about 1,700 miles from eastern Turkey to the Persian Gulf. It is the northern limit named in the promise to Abraham and the boundary Assyria and Babylon crossed to reach the Levant. Wikipedia
- MesopotamiaIraq and eastern SyriaThe land between the Tigris and Euphrates, flat, hot and farmable only by irrigation, which forced early cities into large-scale cooperation. Abraham came from its southern end and Israel's exiles were taken to its middle. Wikipedia
- CanaanIsrael, West Bank, LebanonThe land bridge between Egypt and Mesopotamia, which is why armies crossed it for three thousand years. Within about 60 miles it goes from coastal plain to hill country to rift valley to desert plateau, so control of it was always local and piecemeal. Wikipedia
Towns sit on their excavated or traditional site. Regions, rivers and seas are ringed rather than dotted, because for those a single point is only an anchor. Coastlines from Natural Earth.
Deep Dive
Setting: The first four trumpets struck the natural world: land, sea, rivers and sky (ch 8). An eagle then cried three woes over "those who dwell on the earth" (8:13). Chapter 9 brings the first two woes, the fifth and sixth trumpets. Now the judgments strike people directly, and they come from the spiritual world: a horde from the bottomless pit, then a vast army from the Euphrates. It is one of the strangest chapters in the Bible. It ends with one of the saddest verses: after all of it, the survivors "did not repent."
The four approaches differ sharply here:
- Futurists (Guzik) see real demonic powers loosed on the earth in the coming tribulation: locusts that are demons, and a literal army of 200 million.
- Historicists have had their most famous readings here. Henry and JFB both report the long Protestant tradition that saw the locusts as the Arab armies of Islam's early expansion (or false teaching in the church), and the Euphrates horsemen as the Ottoman Turks, whose cannons breathed "fire and smoke and sulfur."
- Preterists link the scenes with Rome's wars, such as the feared Parthian cavalry beyond the Euphrates, or the Jewish war of AD 66–70.
- Idealists see a picture of how evil, when God lets it loose, torments and destroys the very people who serve it, in every age.
All agree that even the forces of hell work only on a leash God holds, and that his people are kept.
The Fifth Trumpet: Locusts from the Bottomless Pit (vv1–12)
- "I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key" (v1). The ESV's "fallen" is right: John sees a star that had already fallen. Stars stand for angels in Revelation (1:20), and "he" shows this one is a person. Readers differ on who he is: - A fallen angel, perhaps Satan. Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18), and Isaiah 14:12 speaks of the "Day Star" fallen from heaven. JFB and many others take this view. - A good angel sent by God. In 20:1 an angel comes down "holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit" to lock Satan up.
Either way, he "was given" the key. He doesn't own it. Christ holds the keys of Death and Hades (1:18).
- "The shaft of the bottomless pit" (vv1–2). "Bottomless pit" is abyssos, the abyss, the deep. In Jewish thought it was the prison where rebellious spirits were held (1 Enoch 10; 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6). The demons Jesus cast out begged him not to send them there (Luke 8:31). The beast comes up from it (11:7; 17:8), and Satan is thrown into it (20:3).
- "Smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened" (v2). The phrase recalls the smoke over Sodom (Gen 19:28) and over Sinai (Exod 19:18). The darkness echoes the ninth plague. What comes out of the pit hides the light.
- "From the smoke came locusts on the earth… power like the power of scorpions" (v3). Locust swarms were one of the most feared disasters in the ancient world. They could cover the sky and strip a region bare in hours, bringing famine. The eighth plague on Egypt was locusts (Exod 10:12–15). The book of Joel is built around a locust invasion pictured as an army on the day of the Lord (Joel 1–2), and this chapter borrows heavily from it. But these locusts don't eat plants. They sting people, like scorpions, whose sting causes intense pain but is seldom deadly.
- "Only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads" (v4). This is why chapter 7 came first. God's sealed servants are untouched, as Israel was spared in Goshen during the plagues (Exod 8:22; 9:4, 26).
- "Torment them for five months, but not to kill them" (v5). Five months was roughly the life cycle of a locust, the length of the season from spring into late summer. It marks a limited time. The limit is God's: "they were allowed."
- "People will seek death and will not find it" (v6). The pain is so great that death would feel like relief, but it is withheld (Job 3:21; Jer 8:3). This is torment meant to bring people to their senses, not yet the final judgment.
- "The locusts were like horses prepared for battle" (vv7–10). Notice the repeated "like" (nine times in four verses). John describes something beyond ordinary experience by comparing it to familiar things. The pieces come from Joel 2:4–6: "their appearance is like the appearance of horses… like warriors." Each detail adds to the horror: gold-looking crowns (they seem to conquer), human faces (intelligent), women's hair (perhaps long antennae, or wild flowing hair), lions' teeth (Joel 1:6), iron breastplates (unstoppable), and wings that roar like chariots. The Italian word for locust, cavalletta, means "little horse," and the German Heupferd means "hay horse." Locusts' heads really do look like tiny horses' heads.
- Making sense of the locusts. The Tyndale notes warn against reading them as attack helicopters or modern weapons, since they come up from the abyss, not from a factory. Guzik agrees, calling such guesses speculation. He takes them as demons. Historicists saw the Arab armies of the 600s: turbaned riders with long hair, from the land of locusts. JFB raises that view but notes a problem: many true believers died in those invasions, and these locusts can't touch God's people.
- "They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon" (v11). Natural locusts "have no king" (Prov 30:27), but these do. Abaddon means "destruction," and in the Old Testament it is a name for the place of the dead, paired with Sheol and death (Job 26:6; 28:22; Ps 88:11). Apollyon means "Destroyer." John gives both names so that Jewish and Greek readers alike would understand. Many see a jab at Rome here. The god Apollo, whose name sounds like Apollyon, had the locust among his symbols, and emperors including Domitian liked to be associated with him. The Tyndale notes mention this link. The one the emperors honored is unmasked as the destroyer. Most take the king as Satan or one of his chief demons, though the text doesn't say which.
- "The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come" (v12). It is a short breath and a warning: it gets worse.
- Commentators: JFB says the star "had fallen already" and is Satan, and the pit is "the orifice of the hell where Satan and his demons dwell." On the locusts it concludes: "they are not natural locusts, for these do not sting men." Henry, as a historicist, reports that "Some understand it of Boniface the third bishop of Rome," the fallen church leader who opens the way to "the antichrist." He reads the locusts as false teaching, writing that "Heresy is a poison in the soul, working slowly and secretly." He comforts believers that God's grace "will preserve his people from total and final apostasy." Guzik argues that the key being given shows Satan isn't the ruler of hell but will be its prisoner. He leaves open whether the star is the same as the king of v11.
The Sixth Trumpet: Four Angels Released at the Euphrates (vv13–21)
- "A voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God" (v13). This is the altar of incense where the saints' prayers were offered (8:3–5). The horns were raised corner projections on Israelite altars; archaeologists have found altars like this. This judgment also comes as an answer to the cry of God's people. JFB notes that the voice is "one," not four.
- "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates" (v14). These angels are bound, which suggests they are evil powers held in check (contrast the four angels "holding back" the winds in 7:1). The Euphrates was the eastern border of the promised land (Gen 15:18) and the edge of the Roman world. Beyond it lay the Parthians, mounted archers who had defeated Roman armies and were the empire's great fear. In Israel's history, the invaders came from beyond the Euphrates: Assyria and Babylon. "The river" meant the place from which judgment comes (Isa 8:7; Jer 46:10). It appears again when the sixth bowl dries it up "for the kings from the east" (16:12).
- "Prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year" (v15). There is one definite article for the whole phrase in Greek: "the hour and day and month and year." It means a moment set in advance by God, down to the hour, not a span of time to add up. Historicists did add it up, by the "day for a year" method. JFB gives the classic result: 391 years and one month, from the Turks' first conquests over Christian lands to their high point, while also calling such calculations uncertain. Most modern interpreters of every view read the phrase simply as God's exact timing.
- "To kill a third of mankind" (v15). The locusts could only torment. These may kill. The judgments are rising in strength.
- "Twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number" (v16). That is 200 million. Ten thousand (myrias, the source of "myriad") was the largest number the Greeks had a single word for, so "myriads of myriads" means a host beyond counting (compare 5:11; Ps 68:17). The Tyndale notes point out that the whole Roman army at its height was perhaps 125,000 men. Guzik weighs a symbolic number and a human army, and settles on a literal number of demonic horsemen. Some popular teachers have linked it to modern China's armed forces, which the Tyndale notes say is not a useful way to read the number.
- "Breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur" (v17). Red, dark blue and yellow match the fire, smoke and sulfur that pour from the horses' mouths. "Sulfur" (older versions: "brimstone") is the burning substance of Sodom's judgment (Gen 19:24) and of the lake of fire (19:20; 21:8). Lion heads and serpent tails make them something like the monsters of Greek myth.
- "By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed" (v18). Fire, smoke and sulfur are called plagues, the word used for the plagues of Egypt.
- "Their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound" (v19). The serpent links this army with "that ancient serpent… the devil" (12:9). They destroy coming and going, from mouth and tail.
- "The rest of mankind… did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols" (v20). This is the verse the chapter has been building toward. The purpose of the warning trumpets was repentance, and it failed, like Pharaoh hardening his heart through ten plagues. The list of idols, "gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk," echoes Psalm 115:4–7 and Daniel 5:23. Paul says that behind idols stand demons (1 Cor 10:20). People keep worshiping the very powers that have been tormenting them.
- "Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts" (v21). False worship leads to wrong living. The list follows the second half of the Ten Commandments: murder, adultery, theft. "Sorceries" is pharmakeia in many manuscripts, while the critical text has the related pharmakōn, "drugs" or "potions." The lexicon gives the sense as the use of drugs or spells, poisoning, and then sorcery or witchcraft. In the ancient world, potions, charms and magic went together. The word is the root of "pharmacy." It doesn't mean medicine in our sense; it means trying to control the world through occult means.
- Commentators: Henry sees the Turks in this vision: "Here the Turkish power had its rise, which seems to be the story of this vision." He passes on Mede's guess that the fire and brimstone were "a prediction of great guns." Yet he admits that "Prophetic characters of time are hardly to be understood by us." On v20 he writes that people "would not cast away their images, though they could do them no good," and he applies v21 to the church of Rome in his own day. JFB, after describing the Turkish reading and the gunpowder theory, says plainly, "All this is very doubtful," and leans toward an army that is "probably infernal, though constrained to work out God's will." On v20 it compares Pharaoh "hardening his heart against repentance notwithstanding the plagues." Guzik notes that the voice comes from the altar of prayer, as in 8:3–5. He also sees the sins of v21 as a fair description of the modern world, linking "sorceries" with drug use. The lexicon allows the drug sense alongside sorcery. The Tyndale notes add that the four angels' being bound shows they are evil.
Pointing to Christ
Chapter 9 shows what the world looks like when God lets evil off the leash: torment from the abyss and death from the Euphrates. But even here, the key is given, the angels are released only at God's hour, and the sealed servants of God cannot be touched. The destroyer has a name, and so does the Deliverer. Abaddon and Apollyon mean "destruction" and "Destroyer," while the name Jesus means "the LORD saves." He alone holds the keys of the abyss and of death (1:18; 20:1–3). The tragedy of the chapter is not that people suffer, but that they will not turn. The judgments are meant to drive the world to the Lamb, and the door stays open while the trumpets still sound.
Commentary
- Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik covers the abyss, the demonic locusts, Abaddon/Apollyon, the 200-million army, and humanity's refusal to repent.
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
- Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.
Videos
Articles
- GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Revelation -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.
Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.
Reflection
- Spared From the Torment (v.4) — The locusts are forbidden to harm anyone sealed with God's mark, showing He distinguishes between His people and the world under judgment. Do you live with the assurance that you belong to Him?
- A Fate Worse Than Death (v.6) — People will long to die during this torment but death will escape them. This should create urgency about the gospel — people need rescue before judgment falls, not after.
- God's Precise Timing (v.15) — The four angels are released at the exact hour, day, month, and year God appointed — nothing about His plan is random. Can you trust His timing in the specific situation you're facing right now?
- Refusing to Repent (vv.20-21) — Even after catastrophic judgment, the survivors still cling to their idols and their sin instead of turning to God. What does this reveal about relying on fear rather than grace to produce real change in a heart — including your own?