Revelation 9 : Easy-to-Read Version
9 The fifth angel blew his trumpet. Then I saw a star fall from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the deep hole that leads down to the bottomless pit. 2Then the star opened the hole leading to the bottomless pit. Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace. The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole. 3Then locusts* came down to the earth out of the smoke. They were given the power [to sting] like scorpions.* 4The locusts were told not to hurt the grass on the earth or any plant or tree. They could hurt only the people who did not have the sign of God on their foreheads. 5These locusts were given the power to give pain to the people for five months. But the locusts were not given the power to kill the people. And the pain that the people felt was like the pain that a scorpion gives when it stings a person. 6During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it. They will want to die, but death will hide from them. 7The locusts* looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore things that looked like crowns of gold. Their faces looked like human faces. 8Their hair was like women's hair. Their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9Their chests looked like iron breastplates. The sound their wings made was like the noise of many horses and chariots hurrying into battle. 10The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions.* The power they had to give people pain for five months was in their tails. 11The locusts had a ruler. The ruler was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in the Hebrew language is Abaddon.* In the Greek language his name is Apollyon (Destroyer). 12The first great trouble is past. There are still two other great troubles that will come. 13The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the horns on the golden altar* that is before God. 14The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates." 15These four angels had been kept ready for this hour and day and month and year. The angels were freed to kill one third of all the people on the earth. 16I heard how many troops on horses were in [their] army. There were 200,000,000. 17In my vision* I saw the horses and the riders on the horses. They looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions. The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 18One third of all the people on earth were killed by these three bad things coming out of the horses' mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. 19The horses' power was in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails were like snakes that have heads to bite and hurt people. 20The other people [on the earth] were not killed by these bad things. But these people still did not change their hearts and lives and turn away from the things they had made with their own hands. They did not stop worshiping demons* and idols* made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood--things that cannot see or hear or walk. 21These people did not change their hearts and lives and turn away from killing other people. They did not turn away from their evil magic, their sexual sins, and their stealing.
locusts Insects like grasshoppers. Sometimes many locusts came and ate all the plants (Ex. 10). scorpions Insects that sting with a strong poison. Abaddon In the Old Testament this was a name for the place of death (Job 26:6; Psalm 88:11). altar Place where sacrifices or gifts are offered to God. vision(s) Visions are something like dreams that God used to speak to people. demon(s) Demons are evil spirits from the devil. idol(s) Idols are statues or other objects that people worshiped as gods.