Morning Bible Study: Revelation 9:13-21

13  Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. 

14  And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River." 

15  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. 

16  I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops. 

17  And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. 

18  One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues-by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses. 

19  Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people. 

20  But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood-idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 

21  And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts. NLT

Commentary

(the following commentary is from www.easyenglish.bible)

"Verse 13 The sixth (6th) trumpet.

When the sixth (6th) angel sounded his trumpet, John heard a voice. It came from the gold altar.

Verse 14 There were four (4) angels at the river Euphrates. They had control over a vast army from the east. Until now, that army could not cross the river. The voice told the angel with the sixth trumpet to free the four angels.

We think that these four angels were evil angels. They wanted to send the army across the river. But God would not let them do it. They could not do their evil work until the time had come.

Verse 15 The four angels were ready for the task that God would give them. They had to wait until the exact moment that God had chosen. They could not do anything until the exact time in God’s plan. Then they would lead their army to kill a third of the people.

Verse 16 At the time that John was writing, an army of this size was not possible. Since that time, there has been an increase in the number of people on earth. There could now be an army of this size east of the river Euphrates.

Such an army would spread out as far as the eye could see.

Verse 17 John describes what he saw. This vast army was of riders on horses. Each soldier wore an iron shirt. The color of these shirts was red, dark blue and yellow. These matched the fire, the smoke and the sulphur. (Sulphur is yellow. When it burns, the smoke is blue. But the flames are red.)

The horses were not normal horses. Their heads were like lion’s heads. They were fierce and cruel. Fire, smoke and sulphur came from their mouths.

Verse 18 The riders did not kill people. The horses killed a third of the people. They breathed out fire with smoke and sulphur.

Verse 19 The power of the horses to kill was in their mouths. But like the locusts, they had power to hurt in their tails. The tails were like snakes and they had heads. The horses could bite with their tails. When they did, it was like the bite of poisonous snakes. These bites were painful but they did not kill.

Verse 20 God’s purpose in these troubles was that people should repent. The awful things that happened should have caused them to turn to God. But the people still did not repent. They still trusted in the things that they had made rather than in God.

The people chose things that they made from gold, silver, metal and wood to be their gods. These gods have no life in them. They cannot hear or do anything. They cannot help and they are not useful. But people turn to these and not toward God.

Verse 21 The people did not repent of all the evil things that they had done."