Wahyu 9:5

Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari

Dan mereka diperkenankan bukan untuk membunuh manusia, melainkan hanya untuk menyiksa mereka lima bulan lamanya, dan siksaan itu seperti siksaan kalajengking, apabila ia menyengat manusia.

Parallel Translations

Alkitab Terjemahan Baru
Dan mereka diperkenankan bukan untuk membunuh manusia, melainkan hanya untuk menyiksa mereka lima bulan lamanya, dan siksaan itu seperti siksaan kalajengking, apabila ia menyengat manusia.

Contextual Overview

¹ And the fift angell blewe, and I sawe a starre fall from heauen vnto ye earth: and to hym was geuen the key of the bottomlesse pit. ² And he opened the bottomlesse pit, and the smoke of the pit arose, as the smoke of a great fornace, and the sunne and the ayre were darkened by the reason of the smoke of the pit. ³ And there came out of the smoke locustes vpon the earth, and vnto them was geuen power, as the scorpions of the earth haue power. ⁴ And it was commaunded them that they shoulde not hurt the grasse of the earth, neither any greene thing, neither any tree: but only those men which haue not the seale of God in their forheades. ⁵ And to them was commaunded that they should not kyll them, but that they shoulde be vexed fiue monethes, and their paine was as the payne that commeth of a scorpion when he hath stong a man. ⁶ And in those dayes shall men seke death, and shall not fynde it, and shall desire to dye, and death shall flee from them. ⁷ And the similitude of the locustes was like vnto horses prepared vnto battayle, and on their heades were as it were crownes lyke vnto golde, and their faces were as it had ben the faces of men. ⁸ And they had heere as the heere of women, & their teeth were as ye teeth of Lions. ⁹ And they had habbergions as it were habbergions of iron, and the sounde of their wynges was as ye sounde of charrettes when many horses runne together to batayle. ¹⁰ And they had tayles lyke vnto scorpions, and there were stynges in their tayles: and their power was to hurt men fiue monethes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

it was: Revelation 13:5, Revelation 13:7, Daniel 5:18-22, Daniel 7:6, John 19:11

they should not: That is, should not kill them as a political body, state, or empire; and accordingly, however they desolated the Greek and Latin churches, they could not extirpate them, nor gain possession of the empire. Revelation 11:7, Job 2:6

they should be: Revelation 9:10

five: Five prophetical months, each consisting of 30 days, and each day denoting a year, amount to 150 years; and accordingly, from the time that Mohammed began to propagate his imposture ad 612, the building of Bagdad, when they ceased from their ravages, ad 763, are just 150 years.

and their: Revelation 9:3

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 10:11 - scorpions Zechariah 14:12 - Their flesh Revelation 9:15 - an hour

Cross-References

Genesis 9:1
And god blessed Noah, and his sonnes, & saide vnto them, be fruitfull and multiplie, and replenishe the earth.

Genesis 9:9
Beholde, I, euen I establishe my couenaunt with you, and with your seede after you:

Genesis 9:10
And with euery liuing creature that is with you, in foule, in cattell, in euery beast of the earth whiche is with you, of all that go out of the arke, whatsoeuer liuing thyng of the earth it be.

Genesis 9:28
Noah liued after the fludde three hundred and fiftie yeres.

Genesis 9:29
And all the dayes of Noah, were nine hundred and fiftie yeres, and he dyed.

Exodus 20:13
Thou shalt not kyll.

Exodus 21:12
He that smyteth a man, that he dye, shalbe slayne for it.

Leviticus 19:16
Thou shalt not go vp and downe with tales among thy people, neither shalt thou stande agaynst the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lorde.

Psalms 9:12
For he maketh inquisition of blood: he remembreth it, and forgetteth not the complaynt of the poore.

Matthew 23:35
That vpon you may come all the ryghteous blood, which hath ben shed vpon the earth, from the blood of ryghteous Abel, vnto the blood of Zacharias, sonne of Barachias, whom ye slewe betwene the temple & the aulter.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And to them it was given that they should not kill them,.... As the power of the locusts was limited with respect to the persons they should hurt, so with regard also to the mischief they should do; for even those whom they were suffered to annoy they might not kill, that is, utterly root out and destroy, so as that they were no more: and thus, though the Saracens killed great numbers in the eastern empire, by their frequent incursions and ravages, and made large conquests, yet they could never destroy the empire itself, or bring it in subjection to them; nor did they ever take Constantinople, the metropolis and seat of the empire, though they often besieged it. And as for the western locusts, the months, friars, c. though they kill the souls, yet not the bodies of men that are under their power and influence:

but that they should be tormented five months that is, not that the locusts should be tormented, but men by the locusts; and so the eastern empire was grievously teased and tormented by the Saracens, and many parts of it were conquered, plundered, and pillaged by them, though it was not killed and put an end to. In the year 628, Mahomet with his Saracens having obtained a place in Arabia Felix to dwell in, died in the year 631; from which time his successors, the Saracens, by little and little, subdued Palestine, Syria, and Egypt; and, in the year 640, took Persis, putting King Hormisda to flight; they laid siege to Constantinople seven years, but without success; in the year 698, Carthage was taken by them; and in following times many countries on the continent, and many of the islands, were grievously infested and distressed by them; though the empire itself did not fall into their hands; it was tormented by them, but not destroyed. And the western locusts have most dreadfully tormented men by their exorbitant dues demanded of them; and by obliging them to confessions, and to attend Mass; by enjoining them whippings, fastings, pilgrimages, and penances, and with the terrors of purgatory, and the like. The time that the locusts should torment men, which is "five months", seems not to design any determinate time; but only that seeing five months is the time that locusts live, and are in their strength and power, even the five, hottest months in the year, from April to September h, this seems to denote, that as long as the locusts live, the Saracens in the east, and the monks and friars in the west, so long men should be tormented by them; for it is certain that these have had power to torment men longer time than barely five months; yea, even though these should be understood, according to the prophetic style used in this book, of five months of years, or an hundred and fifty years; and though this should be doubled, seeing they are repeated, Revelation 9:10; and so make up in all three hundred ears; for both the Saracens and the Romish clergy have distressed men, either of them, longer time than this: indeed, the flourishing condition of the Saracens was but about three hundred years, or two five months; but their empire or dominion lasted longer, even from the year 622, which was the year of the "Hegira", or flight of Mahomet, to the year 1057 i, when the Turkish empire succeeded it: though it is pretty remarkable, that from the year 612, in which Mahomet began to preach publicly, and so let out the smoke with the locusts, to the year 762, in which the city of Bagdad was built, when and where the Saracens settled, and made no more excursions of any consequence, were just an hundred and fifty years, or five months of years, as Mr. Daubuz observes; and I will not say that this is not intended by this prophecy. Noah's flood prevailed over the earth one hundred and fifty days, or five months, Genesis 7:24.

And their torment [was] as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man; which gives great pain, is very distressing, and their stings are poisonous and mortal: it signifies how troublesome and afflictive those locusts were; to be among them was to live among scorpions, as in Ezekiel 2:6. As these locusts are like scorpions, so scorpions have been seen sometimes with wings like locusts; such an one, Pausanias k relates, was brought into Ionia by a Phrygian.

h Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29. i Petav. Rationar. par. 1. l. 7. c. 13. & l. 8. c. 13. k Boeotica, sive l. 9. p. 573. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 25. & Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 20. & l. 16. c. 41, 42.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And to them it was given - There is here the same indefiniteness as in the former verse, the impersonal verb being here also used. The writer does not say by whom this power was given, whether by God, or by the leader of the host. It may be admitted, however, that the most natural interpretation is to suppose that it was given them by God, and that this was the execution of his purpose in this case. Still it is remarkable that this is not directly affirmed, and that the language is so general as to admit of the other application. The fact that they did not kill them, but tormented them - if such a fact should be found to exist - would be in every sense a fulfillment of what is here said.

That they should not kill them - This is in accordance with the nature of the symbol. The locusts do not themselves destroy any living creature; and the sting of the scorpion, though exceedingly painful, is not usually fatal. The proper fulfillment of this would be found in what would not be generally fatal, but which would diffuse misery and wretchedness. (Compare Revelation 9:6.) Perhaps all that would be necessarily meant by this would be, not that individual people would not be killed, but that they would be sent to inflict plagues and torments rather than to take life, and that the characteristic effects of their appearing would be distress and suffering rather than death. There may be included in the fair interpretation of the words, “general distress” and “sorrow”; acts of oppression, cruelty, and violence; such a condition of public suffering that people would regard death as a relief if they could find it.

But that they should be tormented - That is, that they should be subjected to ills and troubles which might be properly compared with the sting of a scorpion.

Five months - So far as the words here are concerned this might be taken literally, denoting five months or one hundred and fifty days; or as a prophetic reckoning, where a day stands for a year. Compare the notes on Daniel 9:24 ff. The latter is undoubtedly the correct interpretation here, for it is the character of the book thus to reckon time. See the notes on Revelation 9:15. If this be the true method of reckoning here, then it will be necessary to find some events which will embrace about the period of one hundred and fifty years, during which this distress and sorrow would continue. The proper laws of interpretation demand that one or the other of these periods should be found - either that of five months literally, or that of 150 years. It may be true, as Prof. Stuart suggests (in loco), that “the usual time of locusts is from May to September inclusive - five months.” It may be true, also, that this symbol was chosen partly because that was the fact, and they would, from that fact, be well adapted to symbolize a period that could be spoken of as “five months”; but still the meaning must be more than simply it was “a short period,” as he supposes. The phrase a few months might designate such a period; but if that had been the writer’s intention, he would not have selected the definite number five.

And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, ... - See the notes on Revelation 9:3. That is, it would be painful, severe, dangerous.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 9:5. To them it was given — That is, they were permitted.

That they should be tormented five months — Some take these months literally, and apply them to the conduct of the Zealots who, from May to September, in the year of the siege, produced dreadful contests among the people; or to the afflictions brought upon the Jews by Cestius Gallus, when he came against Jerusalem, before which he lay one whole summer, or nearly five months.-See Joseph., Bell. Jud., l. ii. c. 19.

Others consider the months as being prophetical months, each day being reckoned for a year; therefore this period must amount to one hundred and fifty years, counting thirty days to each month, as was the general custom of the Asiatics.

Their torment was as the torment of a scorpion — The phraseology here is peculiar, and probably refers to the warlike weapon called a scorpion, several of which, or men armed with them, Cestius Gallus brought with him in his army.

Isidore describes this scorpion thus: Scorpio est sagitta venenata arcu vel tormentis excussa, quea, dum ad hominem venerit, virus qua figit infundit; unde et scorpio nomen accepit. "The scorpion is a poisoned arrow shot from a bow or other instrument, which, when it wounds a man, deposits the poison with which it is covered in the wound; whence it has the name of scorpion." Seneca, in his Hercules OEtaeus, act iv., ver. 1218, describes the torment which is occasioned by this species of poisoned arrow: -

Heu qualis intus scorpius, quis fervida

Plaga revulsus cancer infixus meas

Urit medullas?