Sunday, November 26, 2023

The Shaft of the Abyss

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet,
and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.
The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
When he opened the Abyss,
smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.
The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.
Apocalypse 9:1-2 (NIV) ✝

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Apocalypse 9:3-4 (ESV) ✝

They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
Apocalypse 9:5-6 (NIV) ✝

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
Apocalypse 9:7-8 (NIV) ✝

They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.
Apocalypse 9:9-10 (NIV) ✝
They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
Apocalypse 9:11 (NIV) ✝

The Abyss of Belial