AUV(i)
1 [When] the fifth angel sounded its trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. And the key to the shaft leading to the deep pit [Note: This is thought to be the place where the devil and his demons live] was given to him.
2 And the fallen star opened the shaft leading to the deep pit and smoke drifted up from the shaft like smoke from a huge furnace. And the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.
3 And locusts swarmed down out of the smoke to earth and they were given power like scorpions on earth have.
4 And they were told not to harm the grass on earth, or any greenery, or any tree, but only those people who did not have God’s seal on their foreheads.
5 And the locusts were not given the power to kill these people, but [only] to torture them for five months. And the torment they would inflict was like a scorpion stinging a person.
6 And in those days people will be looking for death, but they will not find it; and they will want to die, but death will elude them.
7 And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads [they wore] what appeared to be golden crowns, and their faces looked like the faces of human beings.
8 And they had hair like women and teeth like lions.
9 Their chests were covered with armor plate made of iron, and their wings sounded like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots rushing to battle.
10 And they had tails like scorpions with stingers, and in their tails they had the power to inflict harm upon people for five months.
11 They had a king over them who was the angel of the deep pit [See verses 1-2]. His name in Hebrew was “Abaddon,” and in Greek it was “Apollyon” [Note: These words both mean “Destroyer”].
12 The first Calamity is over; look, two more calamities are yet to come.
13 And the sixth angel sounded its trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns [i.e., corners] of the golden Altar, which is in front of God.
14 It said to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are tied up at the great Euphrates River.”
15 And the four angels who had been ready for this hour and day and month and year were [now] released to kill one third of mankind.
16 And the armies of horsemen numbered two hundred million. I was told how many there were.
17 And this is how the horses and their riders looked in the vision: They had on their chests fire[-red], [smoke-]blue and sulphur[-yellow] armor plate, and the horses’ heads were like lions’ heads. And fire, smoke and sulphur proceeded out of their mouths.
18 One third of mankind was killed by these three plagues --- the fire, the smoke and the sulphur, which proceeded out of the horses’ mouths.
19 For the power of the horses [to kill] is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like snakes that have heads with which to harm people.
20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, [still] did not repent of what they had made with their hands [i.e., their idolatry]. They did not stop worshiping demons, and gold, silver, brass, stone and wooden idols, which can neither see, nor hear nor walk.
21 And they refused to repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality and their thievery.