Misplaced Pages

Revelation 9
← chapter 8chapter 10 →
Revelation 1:13-2:1 on the verso side of Papyrus 98 from the second century.
Book	Book of Revelation
Category	Apocalypse
Christian Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Christian part	27

Revelation 9 is the ninth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate. In this chapter, the next two angels' trumpets are sounded, following the sounding of the first four trumpets in chapter 8. These two trumpets and the final trumpet, sounded in chapter 11, are sometimes called the "woe trumpets".

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others:

• Papyrus 115 (ca. AD 275; extant verses 1–5, 7–16, 18–21)
• Papyrus 47 (3rd century)
• Papyrus 85 (4th century; extant verses 19–21)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330-360)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400-440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (ca. 450; extant verses 17–21)

Old Testament references

• Revelation 9:20: Psalm 115:4; Psalm 135:15

The Fifth Trumpet (9:1–11)

Verse 1

Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

English nonconformist Moses Lowman explains that "stars, in the language of prophecy, signify angels.

"The key to the bottomless pit" (Biblical Greek: ἡ κλεὶς τοῦ φρέατος τῆς ἀβύσσου, romanized: hē kleis tou phreatos tēs abyssou) is translated as "the key to the shaft of the Abyss" in the New International Version.

Verse 3

Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

These locusts are 'a demonized version of the army of locusts in Joel 2:1–11'.

Verse 4

They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree

Early Methodist theologian Joseph Benson says that this instruction "demonstrates that they were not natural but symbolical locusts."

Verse 11

And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

The Vulgate adds a Latin equivalent, latine habens nomen Exterminans, which the Wycliffe Bible explains as "Destroyer". The latter also describes the angel as "the angel of deepness".

The Sixth Trumpet (9:12–21)

Verse 16

Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

See also

• Abaddon/Apollyon
• Euphrates
• Jesus Christ
• John's vision of the Son of Man
• Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament
• Seven trumpets
• Related Bible parts: Joel 2, Revelation 8, Revelation 10, Revelation 11

Notes

1. The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus.

References

1. Davids, Peter H (1982). I Howard Marshall and W Ward Gasque (ed.). New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle of James (Repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN 0802823882.
2. Evans, Craig A (2005). Craig A Evans (ed.). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: John, Hebrews-Revelation. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Victor. ISBN 0781442281.
3. F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 45
4. Bauckham 2007, p. 1289.
5. Barnes, A., Barnes' Notes on Revelation 9, accessed 29 October 2018
6. Elliott, J. K. "Revelations from the apparatus criticus of the Book of Revelation: How Textual Criticism Can Help Historians." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no. 3-4 (2012): 1-23.
7. Claremont Coptic Encyclopaedia, Codex Vaticanus, accessed 29 September 2018
8. "Biblical concordances of REvelation 9 in the 1611 King James Bible".
9. Revelation 9:1 NKJV
10. Lowman, M., Paraphrase and Notes upon the Revelation of St. John (1737, 1745; 1791, 1807), quoted by Joseph Benson in Benson Commentary on Revelation 9, accessed 31 October 2018
11. Revelation 9:3 KJV
12. Bauckham 2007, p. 1295.
13. Revelation 9:4 KJV
14. Benson, J., Benson Commentary on Revelation 9, accessed 31 October 2018
15. Revelation 9:11 NKJV
16. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible - Revelation 9:11
17. Revelation 9:11: Wycliffe Bible
18. Revelation 9:16 NKJV

Bibliography

• Bauckham, Richard (2007). "81. Revelation". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 1287–1306. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Gill, John. Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746-1763).

External links

• Revelation 9 King James Bible - Wikisource
• English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate Archived 2019-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
• Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)

• Book of Revelation chapters