Revelation 9:5

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.

Revelation 9:10-11

9:10 They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. 9:11 They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. 10 


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

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

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

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.”

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

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

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

tn In the Greek text there is a shift to the present tense here; the previous verbs translated “had” are imperfects.

tn See BDAG 352 s.v. ἐξουσία 2, “potential or resource to command, control, or govern, capability, might, power.

10 sn Both the Hebrew Abaddon and the Greek Apollyon mean “Destroyer.”