Discovery BoxRevelation 9:5 
Context9:5 The locusts 1 were not given permission 2 to kill 3 them, but only to torture 4 them 5 for five months, and their torture was like that 6 of a scorpion when it stings a person. 7
Revelation 9:10
Context9:10 They have 8 tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability 9 to injure people for five months is in their tails.
1 tn Grk “It was not permitted to them”; the referent (the locusts) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn The word “permission” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
3 tn The two ἵνα (Jina) clauses of 9:5 are understood to be functioning as epexegetical or complementary clauses related to ἐδόθη (edoqh).
4 tn On this term BDAG 168 s.v. βασανισμός states, “1. infliction of severe suffering or pain associated with torture or torment, tormenting, torture Rv 9:5b. – 2. the severe pain experienced through torture, torment vs. 5a; 14:11; 18:10, 15; (w. πένθος) vs. 7.”
5 tn The pronoun “them” is not in the Greek text but is picked up from the previous clause.
6 tn Grk “like the torture,” but this is redundant in contemporary English.
7 tn Grk “a man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in an individualized sense without being limited to the male gender.
8 tn In the Greek text there is a shift to the present tense here; the previous verbs translated “had” are imperfects.
9 tn See BDAG 352 s.v. ἐξουσία 2, “potential or resource to command, control, or govern, capability, might, power.”
