Revelation 9:10

Contemporary English Version

Their tails were like a scorpion's tail with a stinger that had the power to hurt someone for five months.

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.

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

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 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star fall from the sky to earth. It was given the key to the tunnel that leads down to the deep pit. ² As it opened the tunnel, smoke poured out like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air turned dark because of the smoke. ³ Locusts came out of the smoke and covered the earth. They were given the same power that scorpions have. ⁴ The locusts were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or any tree. They were to punish only those people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were allowed to make them suffer for five months, but not to kill them. The suffering they caused was like the sting of a scorpion. ⁶ In those days people will want to die, but they will not be able to. They will hope for death, but it will escape from them. ⁷ These locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore something like gold crowns, and they had human faces. ⁸ Their hair was like a woman's long hair, and their teeth were like those of a lion. ⁹ On their chests they wore armor made of iron. Their wings roared like an army of horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ Their tails were like a scorpion's tail with a stinger that had the power to hurt someone for five months.

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
God did not forget about Noah and the animals with him in the boat. So God made a wind blow, and the water started going down.

Genesis 9:1
God said to Noah and his sons: I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth.

Genesis 9:5
I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death.

Genesis 9:15
I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life.

Genesis 9:16
When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature.

Psalms 145:9
You are good to everyone, and you take care of all your creation.

Jonah 4:11
In that city of Nineveh there are more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot tell right from wrong, and many cattle are also there. Don't you think I should be concerned about that big city?

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.