Discovery BoxRevelation 9:5-6 
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 9:6 In 8 those days people 9 will seek death, but 10 will not be able to 11 find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
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 Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
9 tn Grk “men”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here of both men and women.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
11 tn The phrase “not be able to” was used in the translation to emphasize the strong negation (οὐ μή, ou mh) in the Greek text.
