Revelation 9:6 kjv
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Revelation 9:6 nkjv
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
Revelation 9:6 niv
During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
Revelation 9:6 esv
And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
Revelation 9:6 nlt
In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!
Revelation 9 6 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 28:67 | In the morning you shall say, “Oh that it were evening!” and at evening you shall say, “Oh that it were morning!” because of the dread of your heart… | Longing for release due to overwhelming dread. |
| Job 3:20-22 | “Why is light given to him who is in misery… to those who long for death, but it comes not, and search for it more than for hidden treasures; who rejoice exceedingly… when they find the grave?” | People longing for death as release from suffering. |
| Jer 8:3 | "And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the remnant... who remain of this evil family…” | Preferring death over the misery of life under judgment. |
| Hos 10:8 | "Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’” | Desperate desire for an end to suffering during judgment. |
| Lk 23:30 | "Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’” | Echoes Hosea 10:8, speaking of profound tribulation. |
| Rev 6:16 | "and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne..." | Intense fear and desire for annihilation during God's wrath. |
| Rev 2:22-23 | "...I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation… And I will strike her children dead.” | God's specific judgment on those who do not repent, leading to severe suffering. |
| Rev 9:5 | “They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them..." | Directly precedes Rev 9:6, explaining the duration and restriction of the torment. |
| Rev 16:9-11 | "They gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pains..." | Intense physical torment and unrepentant blasphemy during plagues. |
| Exod 9:15-16 | "...I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you from the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power..." | God's sovereignty over life and death, even in judgment, to demonstrate His power. |
| Deut 32:39 | "See now that I, I am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand." | God's absolute sovereignty over life and death. |
| 1 Sam 2:6 | "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up." | Confirms God's exclusive control over death and resurrection. |
| Ps 68:20 | "Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death." | God is the source of deliverance; He controls who escapes death. |
| Rom 9:15 | "For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’" | God's sovereign right to determine whom He shows mercy to, and implicitly, whom He allows to suffer judgment. |
| Eccl 4:2 | "And I declared that the dead who had already died are happier than the living who are still alive." | Expression of the preference for death over certain earthly miseries, foreshadowing Rev 9:6. |
| Matt 13:42 | "...and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." | Describes torment and anguish in eternal judgment. |
| Lk 16:24-25 | The rich man in Hades suffering, pleading for relief, but being denied it. | Torment with no escape, even for basic comfort. |
| Heb 9:27 | "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment..." | Establishes the divine appointment of death and subsequent judgment, confirming God's ultimate authority. |
| Acts 17:28 | "...for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’..." | God is the ultimate source of life, reinforcing His power to deny death. |
| Job 24:19-20 | "Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are no longer remembered..." | The futility of trying to escape God's ultimate judgment. |
| Is 14:9-11 | "Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come... all they will answer and say to you: 'You also have become weak as we, you have become like us.' Your pomp is brought down to Sheol..." | Illustrates death's power and ultimate reach, except in the specific case of divine withholding as in Rev 9:6. |
| Dan 12:2 | "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt." | The finality of appointed states and divine judgment, even for the dead. |
Revelation 9 verses
Revelation 9 6 Meaning
Revelation 9:6 describes an extraordinary and severe divine judgment where those enduring the torment will suffer so intensely that they desperately long for death as an escape. However, even this relief will be denied to them, as death itself will supernaturally evade their desperate search and desire, prolonging their anguish under God's appointed wrath. This portrays an unparalleled period of tribulation where suffering is absolute, and common avenues of escape, including the finality of death, are sovereignly withheld.
Revelation 9 6 Context
Revelation 9:6 appears within the sequence of the trumpet judgments, specifically following the sounding of the fifth trumpet. This trumpet unleashes a swarm of scorpion-like "locusts" – which are explicitly identified as demonic entities or empowered judgments – whose purpose is to torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev 9:4). The significant detail preceding verse 6 is the explicit command to these creatures: they are not permitted to kill but only to inflict torment for five months (Rev 9:5). Verse 6 elaborates on the unprecedented severity of this torment, revealing that it will be so agonizing that its victims will desperately seek death as an escape, yet be supernaturally prevented from finding it. This is a unique and intensified judgment from God, distinct from earlier forms of wrath where death was a direct consequence. The wider context of Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ's ultimate victory, a warning to churches regarding perseverance and faithfulness amidst persecution, and a prophetic unveiling of future divine judgments upon an unrepentant world. This particular judgment emphasizes God's sovereign control even over the finality of death, making suffering an inescapable and prolonged reality for the disobedient. Historically, this contrasts with stoic or pagan beliefs about the control over one's own end.
Word Analysis
And (Καὶ, Kai): A common Greek conjunction, here serving to link the consequence described in this verse directly to the preceding decree about the torment (Rev 9:5). It introduces the effect of the commanded torture.
in those days (ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις, en tais hēmerais ekeinais): Refers to the specific period of the fifth trumpet judgment, emphasizing a distinct, future time marked by these events. It denotes a definite time appointed by God.
men (οἱ ἄνθρωποι, hoi anthrōpoi): Refers generally to people, specifically those without the seal of God (Rev 9:4), indicating the broad scope of this torment on earth's inhabitants.
shall seek (ζητήσουσιν, zētēsousin): A future active indicative verb meaning "they will actively search for, inquire about, earnestly desire." It implies an active and deliberate pursuit of death, not a passive resignation.
death (τὸν θάνατον, ton thanaton): The natural cessation of life. Here, it is desired not as an end in itself but as a desperately longed-for relief from overwhelming torment. Its personification in the latter part of the verse highlights its supernatural unavailability.
and shall not find it (καὶ οὐ μὴ εὑρήσουσιν αὐτόν, kai ou mē heurēsousin auton): The phrase ou mē is a very strong double negative in Greek, conveying an absolute impossibility or emphatic prohibition. Despite their seeking, death will be utterly unattainable. It underscores God's control.
and shall desire (καὶ ἐπιθυμήσουσιν, kai epithymēsousin): A future active indicative verb. Epithymeō means "to strongly crave, long for, covet, lust after." It indicates a deep, intense, passionate yearning, emphasizing the extremity of their torment that drives such a desire.
to die (ἀποθανεῖν, apothanein): An aorist infinitive of apothnēskō, simply "to die." It complements "desire," specifying the object of their fervent longing.
and death shall flee from them (καὶ φεύγει ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὁ θάνατος, kai pheugei ap' autῶν ho thanatos):
- flee (φεύγει, pheugei): A present active indicative verb, which provides a vivid, almost immediate or constant action in the prophetic vision. It is usually used for living beings, thus personifying Death as an active agent refusing to offer respite.
- from them (ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν, ap' autōn): From their presence, indicating that death actively distances itself from those who seek it. This reinforces the active denial of relief.
- death (ὁ θάνατος, ho thanatos): As a personified agent. This poetic personification emphasizes God's complete dominion over life and death. Death, usually the unavoidable end, is now itself under command, withheld as a specific form of judgment.
Words-group: "shall seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them": This pairing uses synonymous parallelism (or emphatic parallelism) to intensify the meaning. The first phrase ("seek...not find") emphasizes the active pursuit and futility. The second ("desire...flee") emphasizes the deep internal longing and the active, conscious denial by death itself. Together, they powerfully convey the inescapable, agonizing nature of this divinely appointed suffering, where the ultimate release, death, is precisely the thing that is denied, demonstrating God's absolute sovereignty over even the threshold of eternity.
Revelation 9 6 Commentary
Revelation 9:6 powerfully illustrates the unprecedented and profound severity of God's judgment during the fifth trumpet. The torment inflicted, explicitly noted as non-fatal but excruciatingly painful (like a scorpion's sting, Rev 9:5), will push people to the point of desperate longing for death. Yet, death itself, usually the inevitable end and sometimes a feared consequence, becomes a denied refuge. This is not a human decision, but a supernatural intervention where death, personified, actively "flees" from those who seek it, prolonging their anguish indefinitely for the appointed period.
This verse underscores several profound theological truths:
- God's Absolute Sovereignty: God controls all things, even life and death. He can orchestrate conditions where death, normally universal, becomes inaccessible.
- Unique Nature of Judgment: This is a suffering without relief, where the final escape is denied. It escalates the nature of divine wrath beyond anything previously experienced or imaginable.
- Consequences of Unrepentance: The profound anguish described serves as a stark warning about the horror awaiting those who persist in rebellion against God and refuse His call to repentance. This level of suffering, though leading to a desperate desire for an end, often does not lead to a change of heart, as seen in subsequent verses (Rev 9:20-21).
- Literal Interpretation vs. Symbolic Weight: While some may interpret the "locusts" symbolically, the description of the suffering (intense physical pain, longing for death) conveys a very real, horrific experience, whether the entities are literal or symbolic. The outcome for those tormented is concrete.
In practical usage, this verse can serve as a profound illustration of the gravity of God's holiness and His ultimate control over all existence, urging a deeper understanding of the need for salvation and faithfulness to Christ as the only escape from ultimate tribulation.
Bonus Section
- The "five months" mentioned in Revelation 9:5 as the duration of the torment is a specific and limited time period. This suggests that the suffering, while unbearable, has a set end determined by divine decree, emphasizing the calculated and sovereign nature of God's judgment. It's not endless, but perfectly measured for His purposes.
- This verse stands in stark contrast to suicide as an imagined escape from suffering. In this scenario, even a self-sought death is providentially denied, showcasing God's authority over human life and departure.
- The nature of the "locusts" torment, compared to the sting of a scorpion (Rev 9:5), highlights that the suffering is agonizing pain rather than destructive, rapid demise. It's about intense, sustained suffering, leading to this profound longing for death.