¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites^(A) and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts.^(B) Their camels^(C) could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.^(D)

⁵ They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.^(A) It was impossible to count them or their camels;^(B) they invaded the land to ravage it.

² When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.^(A) The sun and sky were darkened^(B) by the smoke from the Abyss.^{(C) 3} And out of the smoke locusts^(D) came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions^(E) of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm^(F) the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,^(G) but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(H) 5} They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.^(I) And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion^(J) when it strikes. ⁶ During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.^(K)

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.^(L) On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.^{(M) 8} Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.^{(N) 9} They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.^{(O) 10} They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.^(P)

⁴⁶ “Son of man, set your face toward^(A) the south; preach against the south and prophesy against^(B) the forest of the southland.^(C)