Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind.
- KJV And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
- BSB So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
- NKJV So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
- NASB And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The four angels, prepared for this exact hour, are freed to kill a third of mankind. The judgment falls at God's precisely appointed time.
Overview
The emphatic listing of "hour and day and month and year" stresses that this devastation is no accident but is fixed in God's calendar. The angels were "prepared" beforehand, and a third of humanity is struck—still a partial, warning judgment short of total destruction. This sobering scene reveals God's exact governance over the worst events. It also magnifies His patience, since even now He withholds full and final judgment to call people to repent.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Rev 9:18By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.
- Rev 8:7The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
- Rev 8:9and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.
- Rev 8:11–12The name of the star is called “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
- Rev 9:10They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails they have power to harm men for five months.
- Rev 9:5They were given power not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person.
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 9:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.