Joel 2:4-11

2:4 They look like horses;

they charge ahead like war horses.

2:5 They sound like chariots rumbling over mountain tops,

like the crackling of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of a mighty army being drawn up for battle.

2:6 People writhe in fear when they see them.

All of their faces turn pale with fright.

2:7 They charge like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers.

Each one proceeds on his course;

they do not alter their path.

2:8 They do not jostle one another;

each of them marches straight ahead.

They burst through the city defenses

and do not break ranks.

2:9 They rush into the city;

they scale its walls.

They climb up into the houses;

they go in through the windows like a thief.

2:10 The earth quakes before them;

the sky reverberates.

The sun and the moon grow dark;

the stars refuse to shine.

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders as he leads his army.

Indeed, his warriors are innumerable;

Surely his command is carried out!

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome

and very terrifying – who can survive it?

Revelation 9:7-19

9:7 Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces. 9:8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9:9 They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. 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.

9:12 The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things!

9:13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God, 9:14 saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” 9:15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity. 9:16 The number of soldiers on horseback was two hundred million; I heard their number. 9:17 Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. 9:18 A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths. 9:19 For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.