11. Their king was the angel in charge of the deep pit. In Hebrew his name was Abaddon, and in Greek it was Apollyon.
12. The first horrible thing has now happened! But wait. Two more horrible things will happen soon.
13. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice speak from the four corners of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.
14. The voice spoke to this angel and said, “Release the four angels who are tied up beside the great River Euphrates.”
15. The four angels had been prepared for this very hour and day and month and year. Now they were set free to kill a third of all people.
16. By listening, I could tell there were more than two hundred million of these war horses.
17. In my vision their riders wore fiery red, dark blue, and yellow armour on their chests. The heads of the horses looked like lions, with fire and smoke and sulphur coming out of their mouths.
18. One third of all people were killed by the three terrible troubles caused by the fire, the smoke, and the sulphur.
19. The horses had powerful mouths, and their tails were like poisonous snakes that bite and hurt.
20. The people who lived through these terrible troubles did not turn away from the idols they had made, and they did not stop worshipping demons. They kept on worshipping idols that were made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. Not one of these idols could see, hear, or walk.