Revelation 9:6

Wesley's New Testament

And in those days the men shall seek death, but not find it; and shall desire to die, but death will flee from them.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

King James Version (1611)
And in those daies shal men seeke death, and shall not finde it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

King James Version
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

New American Standard Bible
And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will flee from them!

New Century Version
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.

English Standard Version
And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.

Berean Standard Bible
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.

Contemporary English Version
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.

Complete Jewish Bible
In those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

Darby Translation
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall in no way find it; and shall desire to die, and death flees from them.

Easy-to-Read Version
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 hide from them.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore in those dayes shall men seeke death, and shall not finde it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flie from them.

George Lamsa Translation
So in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Good News Translation
During those five months they will seek death, but will not find it; they will want to die, but death will flee from them.

Lexham English Bible
And in those days people will seek death and will never find it, and they will long to die, and death will flee from them.

Literal Translation
And in those days men will seek death, and they will not find it. And they will long to die, yet death will flee from them.

Amplified Bible
And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die [to escape the pain], but [will discover that] death evades them.

American Standard Version
And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them.

Bible in Basic English
And in those days men will be hoping for death, and it will not come to them; and they will have a great desire for death, and death will go in flight from them.

Hebrew Names Version
In those days men will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

International Standard Version
In those days people will look for death and never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.Job 1:3:21; Isaiah 2:19; Jeremiah 8:3; Revelation 6:16;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find; and shall desire to die, and death will flee from them.

Murdock Translation
And in those days, men will desire death, and will not find it; and they will long to die, and death will fly from them.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And in those dayes shall men seke death, and shall not fynde it, and shall desire to dye, and death shall flee from them.

English Revised Version
And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them.

World English Bible
In those days men will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

Weymouth's New Testament
And at that time people will seek death, but will by no possibility find it, and will long to die, but death evades them.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And in tho daies men schulen seke deth, and thei schulen not fynde it; and thei schulen desire to die, and deth schal fle fro hem.

Update Bible Version
And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no way find it; and they shall desire to die, and death flees from them.

Webster's Bible Translation
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

New English Translation
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.

New King James Version
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

New Living Translation
In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!

New Life Bible
Men will look for ways to die during those days, but they will not find any way. They will want to die, but death will be kept from them.

New Revised Standard
And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, in those days, shall men seek death, and in nowise shall find it, and shall covet to die, and death fleeth from them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And in those days, men shall seek death and shall not find it. And they shall desire to die: and death shall fly from them.

Revised Standard Version
And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will fly from them.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And in those dayes shall men seke deeth and shall not fynde it and shall desyre to dye and deeth shall flye fro the.

Young's Literal Translation
and in those days shall men seek the death, and they shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and the death shall flee from them.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And in those dayes shal me seke deeth, and shal not fynde it: and shal desyre to dye, and death shal flye from them.

Mace New Testament (1729)
in those days shall men seek for death, but shall not find it; they will desire to die, and death will shun them.

Simplified Cowboy Version
During those five months, people will look for death to ease the pain, but be unable to find it.

Contextual Overview

¹ And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star falling from heaven upon the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. ² And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. ³ And out of the smoke there went forth locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power: ⁴ And it was commanded them, not to hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ And it was given them, not to kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and the torment of them is as the torment of a scorpion, when he stingeth a man. ⁶ And in those days the men shall seek death, but not find it; and shall desire to die, but death will flee from them. ⁷ And the appearances of the locusts are like horses made ready for battle; and on their heads are as it were crowns like gold, and their faces are as the faces of men, ⁸ And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. ⁹ And they had breast-plates as it were breast-plates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. ¹⁰ And they have tails like scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their power is, to hurt men five months.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shall men: Revelation 6:16, 2 Samuel 1:9, Job 3:20-22, Job 7:15, Job 7:16, Isaiah 2:19, Jeremiah 8:3, Hosea 10:8, John 4:8, John 4:9, Luke 23:30

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:67 - General Judges 8:21 - Rise thou Job 3:21 - long Job 6:9 - that it would Psalms 59:11 - Slay Isaiah 15:4 - his Jonah 4:9 - even Zechariah 14:12 - Their flesh

Cross-References

Matthew 26:52
Then said Jesus to him, Put up again thy sword into its place; for all they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword.

Romans 13:4
But if thou dost that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the servant of God, an avenger for wrath against him that doth evil.

James 3:9
Therewith bless we God the Father, and therewith curse we man, made after the likeness of God.

Revelation 13:10
If any leadeth into captivity, he goeth into captivity: if any man kill with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faithfulness of the saints.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And in those days men shall seek death,.... Or desire to die, as Job did:

and shall not find it; or shall not die:

and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them; death will be preferred to a miserable life; it will be chosen rather than life, Jeremiah 8:3. The ravages of the Saracens, their incursions, and the invasions by them, struck such terror into the inhabitants of divers parts of the empire, that they made death more eligible to them than life.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And in those days shall men seek death ... - See the notes on Revelation 9:5. It is very easy to conceive of such a state of things as is here described, and, indeed, this has not been very uncommon in the world. It is a state where the distress is so great that people would consider death a relief, and where they anxiously look to the time when they may be released from their sufferings by death. In the case before us it is not intimated that they would lay violent hands on themselves, or that they would take any positive measures to end their sufferings; and this, perhaps, may be a circumstance of some importance to show that the persons referred to were servants of God. When it is said that “they would seek death,” it can only be meant that they would look out for it - or desire it - as the end of their sorrows. This is descriptive, as we shall see, of a particular period of the world; but the language is beautifully applicable to what occurs in all ages and in all lands.

There is always a great number of sufferers who are looking forward to death as a relief. In cells and dungeons; on beds of pain and languishing; in scenes of poverty and want; in blighted hopes and disappointed affections, how many are there who would be glad to die, and who have no hope of an end of suffering but in the grave! A few, by the pistol, by the halter, by poison, or by drowning, seek thus to end their woes. A large part look forward to death as a release, when, if the reality were known, death would furnish no such relief, for there are deeper and longer woes beyond the grave than there are this side of it. Compare the notes on Job 3:20-22. But to a portion death will be a relief. It will be an end of sufferings. They will find peace in the grave, and are assured they shall suffer no more. Such bear their trials with patience, for the end of all sorrow to them is near, and death will come to release their spirits from the suffering clay, and to bear them in triumph to a world where a pang shall never be felt, and a tear never shed.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 9:6. In those days shall men seek death — So distressing shall be their sufferings and torment that they shall long for death in any form, to be rescued from the evils of life. There is a sentiment much like this in Maximianus, Eleg. i., ver. 111, commonly attributed to Cornelius Gallus:-

Nunc quia longa mihi gravis est et inutilis aetas,

Vivere cum nequeam, sit mihi posse mori?

O quam dura premit miseros conditio vitae!

Nec mors humano subjacet arbitrio.

Dulce mori miseris; sed mors optata recedit:

At cum tristis erit, praecipitata venit.

"Seeing that long life is both useless and burdensome

When we can no longer live comfortably, shall we be

permitted to die?

O how hard is the condition on which we hold life!

For death is not subjected to the will of man.

To die is sweet to the wretched; but wished-for death

flees away.

Yet when it is not desired, it comes with the hastiest

strides."

Job expresses the same sentiment, in the most plaintive manner: -

Why is light given to the miserable,

And life to the bitter of soul?

Who wait for death, but it is not;

And dig for it more than hid treasures.

They rejoice for it, and are glad,

And exult when they find the grave.

Job 3:20-22.