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,[1][2] but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate.[3] In this chapter, the next two angels' trumpets are sounded, following the sounding of the first four trumpets in chapter 8.[4] These two trumpets and the final trumpet, sounded in chapter 11, are sometimes called the "woe trumpets".[5]

Revelation 9
Revelation 1:13-2:1 on the verso side of Papyrus 98 from the second century.
BookBook of Revelation
CategoryApocalypse
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part27

Text

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

Textual witnesses

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Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others:[6][a]

Old Testament references

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The Fifth Trumpet (9:1–11)

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The seven angels with seven trumpets, and the angel with a censer, from the Bamberg Apocalypse.

Verse 1

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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.[9]

English nonconformist Moses Lowman explains that "stars, in the language of prophecy, signify angels.[10]

"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

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Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.[11]

These locusts are 'a demonized version of the army of locusts in Joel 2:1–11'.[12]

Verse 4

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They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree [13]

Early Methodist theologian Joseph Benson says that this instruction "demonstrates that they were not natural but symbolical locusts."[14]

Verse 11

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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.[15][16]

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".[17]

The Sixth Trumpet (9:12–21)

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Verse 16

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Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.[18]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus.[7]

References

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  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

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

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