The First Woe -Revelation 9:1-12

Revelation 9:1-12 ESV
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 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. 5 They were allowed 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 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions 'teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.


The fifth angel sounds the trumpet. We learn more of Satan's fall. Again, we see a reference to the darkness he brings. He is given the key to the Abyss, to release his power of darkness upon those that defy God. It is the smoke from the unlocked abyss that darkens the heavens. From the smoke out of the bottomless pit appear the minions of Satan, a mighty army with the power of destruction at the command of a king named "in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon", whose very name means destruction.

11 Their king is named Abaddon in Hebrew but Apollyon in Greek. The former in the OT denotes the depths of Sheol and means ‘destruction’. The latter is close to the Greek verb apollumi, ‘to destroy’, but may well be intended as a variant of Apollo, which Greek writers have derived from apollumi. The cult of Apollo used (among others) the symbol of the locust, and the emperors Caligula, Nero and Domitian claimed to be incarnations of Apollo. If this was in John’s mind, the irony of the fifth trumpet is mind–blowing: the destructive host of hell had as its king the emperor of Rome! (This is factually paralleled in 17:16-18.). (IVP Bible Commentary)

The inhabitants of the land were familiar with swarms of locusts which would descend on the earth and strip the earth of every thing green. They would darken the sky as they flew through the air. This plague of locusts will only harm the disobedient. Five months was the span of time for a plague of locusts.

7-9 The description of the locusts recalls Joel 1:6; 2:4-9, but it is common in the breast of a lion, its feet with the feet of a camel, its body with the body of a snake, its tail with the tail of a scorpion, its antennae with the hair of a maiden’. (IVP Bible Commentary)


The wrath of God is loosed on those who dwell on earth. The star that had fallen to earth is now allowed to open the pit to plague those on earth without the seal of God. Woe, indeed, to those who reject His name.