(l And when he opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and there were given to them seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer, and there was given to him much incense, for him to place it with the prayers of all the saints in the golden censer which is before the throne. And the smoke went up from the incense, by the prayers of the saints, from the hand of the angel before God. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth, and there came thunders and voices and lightnings and earthquake; and the seven angels who held the seven trumpets made themselves ready to blow.
The first angel blew his trumpet; and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and it was cast upon the earth, and a third of the earth burned up, and a third of the trees burned up, and all the green grass burned up. And the second angel blew his trumpet; and something like a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and a third of the sea was turned to blood, and there died a third of the creatures of the sea, those which were alive, and a third of the boats were destroyed. And the third angel blew his trumpet: and there fell from the sky a great star burning like a torch, and it dropped upon a third of the rivers and upon the springs of the waters. The name of this star is called Wormwood. And a third of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel blew his trumpet; and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them was darkened, and the day lost a third of its shining, and the night likewise.
And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in the middle of the sky, saying in a great voice: Woe woe woe to those who live upon the earth from the voices of the trumpet still to come, from the three angels who will blow their trumpets.
41 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet; and I saw a star fallen from the sky upon the earth, and there was given to him the key to the well of the bottomless pit. And he opened the well of the bottomless pit; and there came up smoke from the well like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun was darkened and the air was darkened from the smoke of the well. And out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, such power as the scorpions of the earth have. And it was said to them that they must not hurt the grass of the land, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those people who do not wear the mark of the seal of God upon their foreheads. And it was granted to them not that they should kill them but that they should torture them five months; and their torture is like the torture of the scorpion, when he strikes a man. And in those days men shall look for death but not find it, and they shall desire death but death shall escape them. And the appearance of the locusts was like that of horses armed for battle, and upon their heads crowns like gold, and their faces like the faces of men, and they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like those of lions, and they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was as the noise of the chariots of many horses galloping into battle. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings, and in their tails is the power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apol- lyon. One woe has come and gone; see, there are still two more woes to come after this.
The sixth angel blew his trumpet; and I heard a single voice from the horns of the altar of gold which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, who held the trumpet: Set free the four angels who are bound, by the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were set free, they who were made ready for the hour and the day and the month and the year, to kill a third part of mankind. And the number of the cavalry of their armies is twenty thousand ten thousands; I heard their number. And thus I sawthe horses in my vision and the riders upon them, wearing breastplates colored as fue and hyacinth and sulphur, and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions, and from their mouths issue fue and smoke and sulphur. From these three afflictions a third of the people were killed, from the fue and smoke and sulphur that c^e out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes with heads, and with these they do harm. And the rest of the people, who had not been killed in these afflictions, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as to stop their worshipping of demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; nor did they repent of their murders or their magic-making or their fornication or their thieving.
tl I saw another strong angel coming down from the sky, clothed in cloud, and the rainbow was on his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire, holding in his hand an opened book-roll. He planted his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the land, and cried out in a great voice, as a lion roars. And when he cried, the seven thunders spoke in their own voices. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, and I heard a voice out of the sky, saying: Seal up what the seven thunders have spoken, and do not write it down. Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land lifted his right hand into the sky, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the sky and what is in it, and the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there shall be no more time; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall blow his trumpet, the mystery of God shall be accomplished, as he announced to his slaves the prophets. The voice which I heard out of the sky, I heard it again speaking to me, saying: Go, take the open book-roll in the hand of the angel who stands upon the sea and the land. I went toward the angel, bidding him give me the book. And he said to me: Take it, and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I took the book from the hand of the angel, and ate it, and in my mouth it was like sweet honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was bitter. Then they said to me: You must prophesy again concerning the peoples and the nations and the languages, and many kings.
41 He gave me a reed that was like a staff, saying: Rise up, and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who are worshipping there. But leave out the courtyard which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they shall walk the holy city forty-two months. I shall give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy for a thousand two hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.
These are the two olive trees and the two lamps that stand before the Lord of the world. And if anyone tries to injure them, fire comes out of their mouth and eats up their enemies; and if anyone tries to injure them, so must he be killed. These have the power to close the sky, so that no rain may drench the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as many times as they wish.
And when they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will do battle with them and defeat them and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the square of the great city, which is called in the way of the spirit Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those of the peoples and the tribes and the tongues and the nations shall look upon their bodies three days and a half, and they shall not give up their bodies to be laid away in the tomb. And those who dwell on the earth shall rejoice over them and be happy, and send each other gifts, because these two prophets tormented the dwellers upon the earth.