1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and the star was given the key to the pit of the abyss. 2 *He opened the pit of the abyss, and from the pit rose smoke like the smoke of a †burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts descended upon the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were permitted to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 In those days people will seek death but will ‡certainly not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads they wore something like §golden crowns; their faces were like human faces. 8 They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They have tails *and stingers like scorpions, and in their †tails they have the power to harm people for five months. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek his name is Apollyon.

12 The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to come after this.

13 Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a single voice from the ‡four horns of the golden altar before God 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels who were prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the troops §on horse was *ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 By these three †plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of the horses' mouths. 19 For ‡the power of the horses is in their mouths §and in their tails, because their tails have heads like serpents, and with them they inflict harm.

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent from the works of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, *bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, sorceries, fornication, or thefts.