Devine Scripture

Revelation 9:14

What does Revelation 9:14 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 9:14 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 9:14 means

The command comes: release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates. Angels who are bound are not faithful messengers but hostile beings restrained until God’s time. The mention of the Euphrates evokes the historic frontier from which Israel’s ancient enemies advanced. The image suggests a long-held threat now permitted to surge forth. Even so, the order "Loose" shows heaven’s initiative; they cannot act until released. What follows will not be human geopolitics alone but a spiritually charged incursion, staged on a boundary long associated with invasion and judgment.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Saying to the sixth angel who had the horn, Make free the four angels who are chained at the great river Euphrates.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

saying to the sixth messenger who had the trumpet, `Loose the four messengers who are bound at the great river Euphrates;'

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates.

Context

This verse specifies the agents and location for the sixth trumpet’s judgment, following the altar voice of verse 13. The Euphrates detail grounds the vision in a symbolic geography familiar to Scripture. Verse 15 will stress God’s precise timing and the lethal target of the release, and verses 16–19 will elaborate the enormous army and the nature of the devastation that ensues.

v.13And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,

v.14This passage

v.15And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Revelation 9:15

    And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.

  • Revelation 7:1

    After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or on the sea, or upon any tree.

  • Genesis 2:14

    And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

  • Revelation 8:2

    And I saw the seven angels that stand before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets.

  • Revelation 8:6

    And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

  • Jeremiah 51:63

    And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:

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