The big picture
Four trumpets have already brought harm in the visions seen by John, the man recording Revelation. Two more now sound. Strange locusts rise from a pit, and an immense army brings death. These creatures are described through images of beasts, weapons, fire, and smoke. Christians differ on what events or powers these visions represent. The chapter is clear about their terror and the limits placed on them. It also names a disturbing result: those left alive still refuse to turn from the evil they practise.
In this chapter
- The Pit Releases Tormenting Locusts Revelation 9:1-6
At the fifth trumpet, John sees a fallen star receive a key to the deep pit.
- Fearful Creatures Have a Ruler Revelation 9:7-12
John describes the locusts as resembling horses ready for battle.
- A Vast Army Brings Widespread Death Revelation 9:13-19
The sixth trumpet brings a voice from the gold altar before God.
- Survivors Cling to Their Wrongdoing Revelation 9:20-21
Those who survive these plagues still do not change their course.
Central truth
The fifth and sixth trumpets bring torment and death, yet the survivors refuse to give up false worship and wrongdoing.
Scripture beside the summary
Revelation · King James Version · 21Revelation 9:1-6
The Pit Releases Tormenting Locusts
At the fifth trumpet, John sees a fallen star receive a key to the deep pit. It opens the pit, releasing smoke that darkens the air and sun. Locusts emerge, but they do not attack plants as normal locusts do. They can hurt only people who lack God's mark on their foreheads. They are forbidden to kill and allowed to torment for five months. Their sting brings pain like a scorpion's. People long for death but cannot find it. This is dreadful suffering under stated limits, not an ordinary plague of insects.
In everyday life
An insurance assessor reads a pain report across a claims counter from an injured worker. The file lists months of treatment and nights without sleep. He stops sorting receipts and listens as the worker explains how narrow daily life has become. The suffering cannot be measured by lost wages alone. John describes a supernatural plague, not the aftermath of an accident.
Notice
Revelation 9:4 Grass and trees are specifically spared, though locusts normally feed on plants. The strange restriction makes clear that these creatures belong to a vision of judgement.
Revelation 9:1-6
King James Version1And 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.
Revelation 9:7-12
Fearful Creatures Have a Ruler
John describes the locusts as resembling horses ready for battle. They have crownlike shapes, human faces, long hair, and teeth like lions. Their armour looks like iron, and their wings roar like a rush of war chariots. Scorpionlike tails carry the sting that harms people for five months. A king rules them, the angel of the deep pit, named Abaddon and Apollyon. These names identify the same ruler here. The first great misery has passed, but two more remain. John's mixed images describe fearful creatures without equating them with any named modern weapon.
In everyday life
The insect researcher lays several drawings beside a specimen cabinet while a visitor studies them. One sketch shows jaws, another wing cases, and another a sting. Together they show why a small creature is feared, though the cabinet keeps everyone at a safe distance. John sees a vision of torment under a ruler, not a natural history display.
Notice
Revelation 9:11 The locusts have a king, so their harm is not presented as aimless swarming. Their ruler belongs to the same pit from which they came.
Revelation 9:7-12
King James Version7And 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.
Revelation 9:13-19
A Vast Army Brings Widespread Death
The sixth trumpet brings a voice from the gold altar before God. It orders the release of four angels bound at Euphrates, the river named here. They have been prepared for a set time to kill a third of humankind. John hears the number of mounted troops: two hundred million. Their horses have heads like lions and mouths pouring out fire, smoke, and sulfur. These kill a third of the people. Tails shaped like snakes also inflict harm. The enormous force acts at an appointed time, but its destruction remains terrible, not less real because it is limited.
In everyday life
Several telephone operators sit at an evacuation switchboard as reports arrive from separate districts. One pins the latest casualty notice beside an already crowded map. Another stops speaking for a moment before taking the next call. The scale of loss is hard to absorb from a single chair. John sees a judgement involving vast supernatural forces, not an emergency reporting network.
Notice
Revelation 9:15 A precise appointed time is given before the scale of death. The angels do not choose their own moment, even in this terrifying scene.
Revelation 9:13-19
King James Version13And 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.
Revelation 9:20-21
Survivors Cling to Their Wrongdoing
Those who survive these plagues still do not change their course. They keep worshipping evil spirits and idols made from precious metals, stone, and wood. These handmade objects cannot see, hear, or walk. Yet people continue giving them devotion. The refusal also reaches their treatment of others. They will not give up murder, magic, sexual wrongdoing, or theft. Survival has not brought a new heart or new conduct. The chapter ends with that stubborn refusal, showing that even severe suffering does not automatically turn people toward God.
In everyday life
A quarry manager signs the reopening sheet after a serious safety shutdown. Beside the weighbridge, he quietly orders the same false load figures entered again. The warning notice still hangs on the wall, but the practice that brought danger remains in use. Getting through a crisis has not changed his choice. Revelation names refusal of God, not only workplace dishonesty.
Notice
Revelation 9:20 The idols' inability to see, hear, or move is spelled out. The survivors cling to objects without life even after facing the fragility of their own lives.
Revelation 9:20-21
King James Version20And 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Revelation 9:1 begins with “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.”
Where the chapter turns
Revelation 9:11 forms a natural hinge: “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…”
The final note
Revelation 9:21 leaves the reader with “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words smoke, angel, earth, heads, horses, power help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- bottomless pit
- The deep place from which destructive powers emerge in this vision.
- brimstone
- Sulfur, a substance associated here with burning fire and deadly smoke.
- sorceries
- Practices that seek hidden powers through magic rather than trust in God.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
