Verse-by-Verse Study Notes
STUDY NOTES — verse by verse. [Brackets] mark English helper words. Hebrew quoted word-for-word from the Tanakh, never invented. “Lord” = kurios (title), never the Name. Greek in pinned comment; apparatus free below.
Rev 9:1 — א A P47.
Lit: “And the fifth messenger sounded the trumpet; and I saw a star out of the heaven having fallen into the earth, and was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.”
Heb, Isa 14:12 (the Day Star fallen from heaven): אֵיךְ נָפַלְתָּ מִשָּׁמַיִם הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר — “How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of dawn”
Heb, Job 38:7 (the morning stars): בְּרָן־יַחַד כּוֹכְבֵי בֹקֶר — “when the morning stars sang together”
Heb, Rev 1:18 (the keys; cf. 20:1): the key of death and of Hades — the book’s own key-image
Rev 9:2 — א A P47.
Lit: “and he opened the pit of the abyss, and went up smoke out of the pit as smoke of a great furnace, and was darkened the sun and the air out of the smoke of the pit.”
Heb, Gen 19:28 (the smoke of the furnace): וְהִנֵּה עָלָה קִיטֹר הָאָרֶץ כְּקִיטֹר הַכִּבְשָׁן — “and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace”
Heb, Joel 2:10 (the sun and moon darkened): שֶׁמֶשׁ וְיָרֵחַ קָדָרוּ — “the sun and the moon are darkened”
Rev 9:3 — א A P47.
Lit: “and out of the smoke came forth locusts into the earth, and was given to them authority as have authority the scorpions of the earth.”
Heb, Joel 1:4 (the locust invasion): יֶתֶר הַגָּזָם אָכַל הָאַרְבֶּה — “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten”
Heb, Exod 10:14 (the locusts over Egypt): וַיַּעַל הָאַרְבֶּה עַל כָּל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם — “And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt”
Rev 9:4 — א A P47.
Lit: “and it was said to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth nor every green thing nor every tree, except the men who do not have the seal of God upon the foreheads.”
Heb, Ezek 9:4 (the mark on the foreheads): וְהִתְוִיתָ תָּו עַל מִצְחוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים — “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men”
Heb, Rev 7:3 (the seal; the book’s own order): do not harm until we have sealed
Rev 9:5 — א A P47.
Lit: “and it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they shall be tormented five months; and the torment of them [was] as torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man.”
Heb, Deut 8:15 (the scorpion of the wilderness): נָחָשׁ שָׂרָף וְעַקְרָב — “fiery serpent and scorpion” (of the great and terrible wilderness)
Heb: the five months — the book’s own reckoning; no Tanakh verbal parallel
Rev 9:6 — א A P47.
Lit: “and in those days shall seek the men death and no way shall find it, and they shall desire to die and flees death from them.”
Heb, Job 3:21 (longing for death): הַמְיַחֲלִים לַמָּוֶת וְאֵינֶנּוּ — “who long for death, but it does not come”
Heb, Jer 8:3 (death chosen over life): וְנִבְחַר מָוֶת מֵחַיִּים — “and death shall be chosen rather than life”
Rev 9:7 — א A P47.
Lit: “and the likenesses of the locusts [were] like horses having been prepared for war, and upon the heads of them as crowns like gold, and the faces of them as faces of men,”
Heb, Joel 2:4 (the appearance like horses): כְּמַרְאֵה סוּסִים יֵרָאוּן וּכְפָרָשִׁים כֵּן יְרוּצוּן — “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like horsemen, so they run”
Rev 9:8 — א A P47.
Lit: “and they had hair as hair of women, and the teeth of them as [teeth] of lions were,”
Heb, Joel 1:6 (the teeth like a lion): שִׁנָּיו שִׁנֵּי אַרְיֵה — “its teeth are the teeth of a lion”
Rev 9:9 — א A P47.
Lit: “and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the sound of the wings of them as sound of chariots of many horses running into war.”
Heb, Joel 2:5 (the sound like chariots): כְּקוֹל מַרְכָּבוֹת עַל רָאשֵׁי הֶהָרִים יְרַקֵּדוּן — “Like the sound of chariots on the tops of the mountains they leap”
Rev 9:10 — א A P47.
Lit: “and they have tails like scorpions and stings, and in the tails of them [is] the authority of them to harm men five months.”
Heb: the tails and the five months — the book’s own image; no Tanakh verbal parallel
Rev 9:11 — א A P47.
Lit: “they have over them a king, the messenger of the abyss; name to him in Hebrew [is] Abaddon, and in the Greek he has [the] name Apollyon.”
Heb, Job 26:6 (Abaddon before Him): עָרוֹם שְׁאוֹל נֶגְדּוֹ וְאֵין כְּסוּת לָאֲבַדּוֹן — “Sheol is naked before Him, and Abaddon has no covering”
Heb, Prov 15:11 (Sheol and Abaddon): שְׁאוֹל וַאֲבַדּוֹן נֶגֶד יְהוָה — “Sheol and Abaddon are before YudHeyVavHey”
Rev 9:12 — א A P47.
Lit: “The woe, the one, went away; behold, there come yet two woes after these things.”
Heb: the woe-sequence — Revelation’s own formula (cf. 8:13); no Tanakh verbal parallel
Rev 9:13 — א A P47.
Lit: “And the sixth messenger sounded the trumpet; and I heard a voice, one, out of the four horns of the altar, the golden [one], the [one] before God,”
Heb, Exod 30:2 (the horns of the golden altar): מִמֶּנּוּ קַרְנֹתָיו — “its horns shall be of it” (four horns, one piece with the altar)
Heb, Lev 4:7 (the blood on the horns): וְנָתַן הַכֹּהֵן מִן הַדָּם עַל קַרְנֹת מִזְבַּח קְטֹרֶת הַסַּמִּים — “and the priest shall put of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense”
Rev 9:14 — א A P47.
Lit: “saying to the sixth messenger, the [one] having the trumpet: Loose the four messengers, the [ones] having been bound upon the river, the great [one], Euphrates.”
Heb, Gen 2:14 (the Euphrates, the fourth river): וְהַנָּהָר הָרְבִיעִי הוּא פְרָת — “and the fourth river is the Euphrates”
Heb, Deut 1:7 (as far as the great river Euphrates): עַד הַנָּהָר הַגָּדֹל נְהַר פְּרָת — “as far as the great river, the river Euphrates”
Rev 9:15 — א A P47.
Lit: “and were loosed the four messengers, the [ones] having been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third of the men.”
Heb: the hour, day, month, and year — the book’s own precise reckoning; no Tanakh verbal parallel
Heb, Rev 8:7-12 (the third — the book’s own pattern)
Rev 9:16 — א A P47.
Lit: “and the number of the armies of the horsemen [was] two myriads of myriads; I heard the number of them.”
Heb, Ps 68:17 (Eng 68:18; the myriads): רֶכֶב אֱלֹהִים רִבֹּתַיִם אַלְפֵי שִׁנְאָן — “The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands”
Heb, Dan 7:10 (Aramaic — a myriad of myriads): וְרִבּוֹ רִבְּוָן קָדָמוֹהִי יְקוּמוּן — “and a myriad of myriads stood before Him”
Rev 9:17 — א A P47.
Lit: “and thus I saw the horses in the vision and the [ones] sitting upon them, having breastplates fiery and hyacinthine and sulfurous; and the heads of the horses [were] as heads of lions, and out of the mouths of them goes forth fire and smoke and sulfur.”
Heb, Gen 19:24 (fire and sulfur): וַיהוָה הִמְטִיר עַל סְדֹם וְעַל עֲמֹרָה גָּפְרִית וָאֵשׁ — “and YudHeyVavHey rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah sulfur and fire”
Heb, Ps 11:6 (fire and sulfur): יַמְטֵר עַל רְשָׁעִים פַּחִים אֵשׁ וְגָפְרִית — “He shall rain upon the wicked snares, fire and sulfur”
Rev 9:18 — א A P47.
Lit: “by the three plagues, these, were killed the third of the men, by the fire and the smoke and the sulfur, the [things] going forth out of the mouths of them.”
Heb: the three plagues — the book’s own reckoning; no Tanakh verbal parallel
Rev 9:19 — א A P47.
Lit: “for the authority of the horses is in the mouth of them and in the tails of them; for the tails of them [are] like serpents, having heads, and with them they harm.”
Heb, Gen 3:1 (the serpent): וְהַנָּחָשׁ הָיָה עָרוּם — “And the serpent was crafty”
Heb: the serpent-tails — the book’s own image; no Tanakh verbal parallel
Rev 9:20 — א A P47.
Lit: “and the rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent out of the works of the hands of them, that they should not worship the demons and the idols, the golden [ones] and the silver [ones] and the bronze [ones] and the stone [ones] and the wooden [ones], which neither to see are able nor to hear nor to walk.”
Heb, Ps 115:4-5 (the idols): עֲצַבֵּיהֶם כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי אָדָם — “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands”
Heb, Deut 4:28 (idols of wood and stone): וַעֲבַדְתֶּם שָׁם אֱלֹהִים מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי אָדָם עֵץ וָאֶבֶן אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִרְאוּן וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּן — “and you shall serve there gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which do not see and do not hear”
Heb, Dan 5:23 (Aramaic — the gods of silver and gold): וּלְאֱלָהֵי כַסְפָּא וְדַהֲבָא נְחָשָׁא פַרְזְלָא אָעָא וְאַבְנָא שַׁבַּחְתָּ — “and the gods of silver and gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone you praised”
Rev 9:21 — א A P47.
Lit: “and they did not repent out of the murders of them, nor out of the sorceries of them, nor out of the fornication of them, nor out of the thefts of them.”
Heb, Exod 20:13 (no murder): לֹא תִּרְצָח — “You shall not murder”
Heb, Deut 18:10 (no sorcerer): לֹא יִמָּצֵא בְךָ מְכַשֵּׁף — “There shall not be found among you a sorcerer”