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The NET Bible®

Revelation 9:10

They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Locust;   Scorpion;   Trumpet;   Vision;   The Topic Concordance - Seals;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Scorpion, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Locust;   Scorpion;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abyss;   Hades;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Mahometanism;   Order;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Abaddon;   Joel;   Scorpion;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Authority;   Joel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Evil;   Lucifer;   Plagues of Egypt;   Scorpion;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Authority;   Locust;   Locust ;   Scorpion ;   Scorpion (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Bottomless Pit;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Locusts;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Scorpion;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Apollyon;   Authority in Religion;   Revelation of John:;   Scorpion;   Sting;   Tail;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months.
King James Version (1611)
And they had tayles like vnto Scorpions, and there were stings in their tayles: and their power was to hurt men fiue moneths.
King James Version
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
New American Standard Bible
They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months.
New Century Version
The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions, and in their tails was their power to hurt people for five months.
English Standard Version
They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.
Berean Standard Bible
They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.
Contemporary English Version
Their tails were like a scorpion's tail with a stinger that had the power to hurt someone for five months.
Complete Jewish Bible
They had tails like those of scorpions, with stings; and in their tails was their power to hurt people for five months.
Darby Translation
and they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and their power [was] in their tails to hurt men five months.
Easy-to-Read Version
The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions. The power they had to give people pain for five months was in their tails.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And they had tailes like vnto scorpions, and there were stings in their tailes, and their power was to hurt men fiue moneths.
George Lamsa Translation
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and they had power to hurt men five months.
Good News Translation
They have tails and stings like those of a scorpion, and it is with their tails that they have the power to hurt people for five months.
Lexham English Bible
And they have tails similar in appearance to scorpions, and stings, and their power to injure people for five months is in their tails.
Literal Translation
And they have tails like scorpions, and their stings were in their tails; and their authority is to harm men five months.
Amplified Bible
They have tails like scorpions, and stingers; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months.
American Standard Version
And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.
Bible in Basic English
And they have pointed tails like scorpions; and in their tails is their power to give men wounds for five months.
Hebrew Names Version
They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails is their power to harm men for five months.
International Standard Version
They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months.Revelation 9:5;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And they had tails like those of scorpions, and stings; and in their tails they have power to hurt men five months.
Murdock Translation
And they had tails like those of scorpions, and stings; and with their tails they had the power of hurting men five months.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they had tayles lyke vnto scorpions, and there were stynges in their tayles: and their power was to hurt men fiue monethes.
English Revised Version
And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.
World English Bible
They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails is their power to harm men for five months.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And they have tails like scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their power is, to hurt men five months.
Weymouth's New Testament
They had tails like those of scorpions, and also stings; and in their tails lay their power of injuring mankind for five months.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei hadden tailis lijk scorpiouns, and prickis weren in the tailis of hem; and the myyt of hem was to noye men fyue monethis.
Update Bible Version
And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [was] to hurt men five months.
New King James Version
They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.
New Living Translation
They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.
New Life Bible
They had tails like a small animal that stings. The sting came from their tails. They were given power to hurt men for five months.
New Revised Standard
They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings, and, in their tails, is their licence to injure men five months.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And they had tails like to scorpions: and there were stings in their tails. And their power was to hurt men, five months. And they had over them
Revised Standard Version
They have tails like scorpions, and stings, and their power of hurting men for five months lies in their tails.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And they had tayles lyke vnto scorpions and there were stinges in their tayles. And their power was to hurt men v. monethes.
Young's Literal Translation
and they have tails like to scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their authority [is] to injure men five months;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And they had tayles lyke vnto scorpions, and there were stynges in their tayles. And their power was to hurt me fyue monethes.
Mace New Testament (1729)
they had stings in their tails like scorpions; and they had leave to molest men for five months with their stings.
Simplified Cowboy Version
Their tails were like scorpions with needles like swords, ready to inflict pain and suffering as quickly as a rattlesnake's strike. For five months they will ravage the lives of the unbranded.

Contextual Overview

1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. 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. 6 In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. 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. 8 They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 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. 10 They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

tails: Revelation 9:3, Revelation 9:5

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 10:11 - scorpions Luke 11:12 - a scorpion 1 Corinthians 15:55 - sting Revelation 9:15 - an hour Revelation 9:19 - in their tails Revelation 12:4 - his tail

Cross-References

Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters receded.
Genesis 9:1
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Genesis 9:5
For your lifeblood I will surely exact punishment, from every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person I will exact punishment for the life of the individual since the man was his relative.
Genesis 9:6
"Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God's image God has made humankind."
Genesis 9:15
then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things.
Genesis 9:16
When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth."
Psalms 145:9
The Lord is good to all, and has compassion on all he has made.
Jonah 4:11
Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they had tails like unto scorpions,.... Locusts are said to have the tail of a serpent, and of the vipers of the earth u;

:-,

:-. And there were stings in their tails; either in the baser sort of them, the Saracens and Papists; or in their doctrines, the prophet being the tail, Isaiah 9:15; with which both Mahomet, who set himself up for a prophet, and the Romish clergy, who set up their decrees and unwritten traditions above the word of God, have poisoned and destroyed multitudes of souls:

and their power [was] to hurt men five months;

Isaiah 9:15- :.

u Scriptores Arab.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they had tails like unto scorpions - The fancy of an Arab now often discerns a resemblance between the tail of the locust and the scorpion. See the remark of Niebuhr, quoted in the notes on Revelation 9:7.

And there were stings in their tails - Like the stings of scorpions. See the notes on Revelation 9:3. This made the locusts which appeared to John the more remarkable, for though the fancy may imagine a resemblance between the tail of a locust and a scorpion, yet the locusts have properly no sting. The only thing which they have resembling a sting is a hard bony subsubstance like a needle, with which the female punctures the bark and wood of trees in order to deposit her eggs. It has, however, no adaptation, like a sting, for conveying poison into a wound. These, however, appeared to be armed with stings properly so called.

And their power was to hurt men - Not primarily to kill people, but to inflict on them various kinds of tortures. See the notes on Revelation 9:5. The word used here - ἀδικῆσαι adikēsai, rendered “to hurt” - is different from the word in Revelation 9:5 - βασανισθῶσιν basanisthōsin, rendered “should be tormented.” This word properly means “to do wrong, to do unjustly, to injure, to hurt”; and the two words would seem to convey the idea that they would produce distress by doing wrong to others, or by deeding unjustly with them. It does not appear that the wrong would be by inflicting bodily torments, but would be characterized by that injustice toward others which produces distress and anguish.

Five months - See the notes on Revelation 9:5; (also Editor’s Preface).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 9:10. They had tails like unto scorpions — This may refer to the consequences of their victories. They infected the conquered with their pernicious doctrines.

Their power was to hurt men five months.] The locusts make their principal ravages during the five summer months. But probably these may be prophetic months, as above, in Revelation 9:5-150 years.


 
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