(M46) 1 And 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. 2 And 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. 3 And out of the smoke came
forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions
of the earth have power. 4 And 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. 5 And 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. 6 And 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. 7 And the shapes(139) 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. 8 And they had hair as the hair of
women, and their teeth were as _the teeth_ of lions. 9 And 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. 10 And
they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is
their power to hurt men five months. 11 They 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(140).
(M47) (12 The first Woe is past: behold there come yet two Woes
hereafter.)
(M48) 13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice(141) from the
horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth
angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the
great river Euphrates. 15 And 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. 16 And the number of the armies of the horsemen was
twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them. 17 And
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 the horses are as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths
proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By 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. 19 For 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. 20 And 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(142), 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: 21 and they repented not of their murders, nor of
their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
3b The Episode of the Angel with the Book and of the Two Witnesses (An
Intervening Vision of Divine Help Attained)
(A) The Angel with the Little Open Book