Text -- Revelation 9:5 (NET)

9:5 The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Rev 9:5

¹ tn Grk “It was not permitted to them”; the referent (the locusts) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The word “permission” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

³ tn The two ἵνα (Jina) clauses of 9:5 are understood to be functioning as epexegetical or complementary clauses related to ἐδόθη (edoqh).

⁴ tn On this term BDAG 168 s.v. βασανισμός states, “1. infliction of severe suffering or pain associated with torture or torment, tormenting, torture Rv 9:5b. – 2. the severe pain experienced through torture, torment vs. 5a; 14:11; 18:10, 15; (w. πένθος) vs. 7.”

⁵ tn The pronoun “them” is not in the Greek text but is picked up from the previous clause.

⁶ tn Grk “like the torture,” but this is redundant in contemporary English.

⁷ tn Grk “a man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in an individualized sense without being limited to the male gender.