2 Then it opened the bottomless pit. Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace. The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole.
3 Then locusts came down to the earth out of the smoke. They were given the power to sting like scorpions.
4 They were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or tree. They could harm only the people who did not have the sign of God on their foreheads.
5 These locusts were given the power to cause pain to the people for five months. But they were not given the power to kill anyone. And the pain they felt was like the pain that a scorpion gives when it stings a person.
6 During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it. They will want to die, but death will run away from them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore things that looked like crowns of gold. Their faces looked like human faces.
8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.