# Revelation 09 📖: The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Revelation Overview]] | [[Revelation 08]] | [[Revelation 10]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) [[#Verse 01.]] Then 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. [[#Verse 02.]] He 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.  [[#Verse 03.]] Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.  [[#Verse 04.]] They 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.  [[#Verse 05.]] The 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.  [[#Verse 06.]] In 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. [[#Verse 07.]] Now 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.  [[#Verse 08.]] They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.  [[#Verse 09.]] They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle.  [[#Verse 10.]] They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails.  [[#Verse 11.]] They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is _Abaddon_, and in Greek, _Apollyon_. [[#Verse 12.]] The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things! [[#Verse 13.]] Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God,  [[#Verse 14.]] saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!”  [[#Verse 15.]] Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity.  [[#Verse 16.]] The number of soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000; I heard their number.  [[#Verse 17.]] Now 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.  [[#Verse 18.]] A 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.  [[#Verse 19.]] For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.  [[#Verse 20.]] The 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.  [[#Verse 21.]] Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The abyss (9:1) is a deep prison for evil spirits. The demons in Luke 8:31 begged Jesus not to send them there. 2. The locust plague recalls the eighth plague of Egypt (Exodus 10:12-15) and the locust army in Joel 1-2. 3. The five months of torment (9:5, 10) match the typical life span of a locust. 4. Abaddon (9:11) is a Hebrew word meaning destruction, found in Job 26:6 and Proverbs 15:11. 5. Apollyon (9:11) is a Greek word meaning destroyer. Some scholars see a jab at the god Apollo, whom some emperors honored. 6. The Euphrates River (9:14) marked the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, beyond which lay the feared Parthians. 7. The army of 200 million (9:16) is literally "twice ten thousand times ten thousand." 8. The colors of the riders' breastplates (fire red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow) match the fire, smoke, and sulfur from the horses' mouths (9:17). 9. The idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood that cannot see, hear, or walk (9:20) echo Psalm 115:4-7. 10. The word for sorceries in 9:21 (*pharmakeia*) is the root of our word pharmacy and often referred to magic potions and drugs. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who holds the keys of death and Hades (1:18), so even the abyss is opened only by permission. He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and He still calls people to repent (9:20-21). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. The locusts may not harm those with God's seal (9:4). How does God's protection of His people show up in this chapter? 2. Even after terrible plagues, people did not repent (9:20-21). Why do you think suffering alone does not always lead people to God? 3. What idols in our culture compete for the worship that belongs to God? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 1-2: A star fallen from heaven is given the key to the abyss. - 📖 verse 4: The locusts may harm only those without God's seal on their foreheads. - 📖 verse 11: Their king is the angel of the abyss, Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek. - 📖 verses 20-21: The rest of humanity did not repent of their idols, murders, sorceries, immorality, or thefts. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 9:1 → Isaiah 14:12 – How you have fallen from heaven, O shining star. - 🔗 9:1 → Luke 10:18 – Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. - 🔗 9:3 → Exodus 10:12-15 – The plague of locusts on Egypt. - 🔗 9:3, 7-9 → Joel 1:4-7 and 2:4-5 – An invading army pictured as locusts like horses. - 🔗 9:4 → Ezekiel 9:4 – The marked ones are spared. - 🔗 9:6 → Job 3:21 – Those who long for death that does not come. - 🔗 9:11 → Job 26:6 – Abaddon, the place of destruction. - 🔗 9:14 → Genesis 15:18 – The Euphrates as the boundary of the promised land. - 🔗 9:20 → Psalm 115:4-7 and Daniel 5:23 – Idols that cannot see, hear, or walk. - 🔗 [[Joel 02#Verse 01.|Joel 2:1-11]] - The locust army of the day of the Lord. - 🔗 [[Exodus 10#Verse 12.|Exodus 10:12-15]] - The plague of locusts on Egypt. - 🔗 [[Luke 08#Verse 31.|Luke 8:31]] - The demons beg not to be sent into the abyss. - 🔗 [[Psalm 115#Verse 04.|Psalm 115:4-8]] - Idols that cannot see or hear. - 🔗 [[2 Peter 03#Verse 09.|2 Peter 3:9]] - The Lord is patient, wanting all to repent. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Revelation 09 - SOAP|The Hope of Judgment]] ## 📂 Internal Notes