The Revelation of Jesus Christ:
The Faithful Witness
Lesson 10 So the Four Angels Were Released
the book of Revelation 9:1–21
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for the book of Revelation
cross references in the book of Revelation
chapter-by-chapter review page
next lesson: A Mighty Angel Come Down from Heaven
This material coordinates with Lesson 10 on pages 60–65 in The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness.
“Great and wonderful are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways,
O King of the ages! Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? For you alone are holy.
All nations shall come and worship you, for your judgments have been revealed.”
—the book of Revelation 15:3–4
welcome to our in-depth study of the book of Revelation
We invite groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson and video from this 23-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. Our online pages
link 
to the free lesson videos, a glossary, cross references in the biblical text, and a chapter-by-chapter review page—and they also include illustrations, maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness has been granted an imprimatur. The study may be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-related question or comment, click on the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” button on any study page.
open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion study group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:
Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit
to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.
let’s review—the book of Revelation 8:1–13
In Lesson 9 Silence in Heaven, when the Lamb opens the seventh seal, heaven is surprisingly silent. Then seven angels are given seven trumpets. Another angel fills a censor with fire from a golden altar and throws the fire onto the earth. When the first trumpet sounds, hail, fire, and blood fall on the earth, burning a third of the earth and trees and all of the grass. When the second trumpet sounds, a mountain is thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea becomes blood. When the third trumpet sounds, a star named Wormwood falls to earth, and a third of the fresh waters on earth become bitter and poison many people. When the fourth trumpet sounds, a third of the heavenly bodies are darkened. An eagle in mid-heaven warns that three woes are about to occur when the final three trumpets sound.
the fifth & sixth trumpets sound
In the ninth chapter, two of three woes prophesied by the eagle in the book of Revelation 8:13 come to pass with the blowing of the fifth and sixth trumpets. There’s a pause after the sixth trumpet is blown. The number of angels involved in these events is adding up. When the sixth angel blows his trumpet, four new angels appear. Click on the image (right) to enlarge Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino’s illustration, which is on page 62 of The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness. What might be significant about the location from which these angels are called? What does 
their release suggest is about to happen in heaven and on earth? How many realms have been affected by the six trumpets that already have blown? Consider what might be likely to happen when the seventh trumpet sounds. The map (right) shows what many biblical scholars believe to be the likely location of the Garden of Eden as it’s described in the second chapter in the book of Genesis. (Note that archaeologists think that the shoreline of the Persian Gulf is thought to have extended farther to the north at the time of the Creation 
stories.) This map can be seen on page 64 of The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness; it can be enlarged by clicking on it. You can view the original map and read more about the Garden of Eden in Lesson 2 It Is Not Good That the Man Should Be Alone in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.
a discussion of life & death (58:17)
The ninth chapter of the book of Revelation describes hell being released onto the 
earth in the form of swarms of locusts. In the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps points out that it’s easy to miss that evil remains bound by limitations. The locusts represent what evil does, which is consume and destroy. Because God created humanity with free will, the earth exists as a neutral area between heaven and hell so that men and women can choose between good (God) and evil (Satan and sin). Everything is about love of God, a theme that can get lost in all of these 
images of conflict and violence in the book of Revelation. Satan cannot kill a single person. It takes an act of human will (making an intentional choice to sin) for a person to die. Through such an act, a person forfeits his or her immortal soul—but even people on earth not marked with the seal of God still can choose not to die. As long as a person is physically alive, repentance is a possibility. In heaven (above the earth), souls are alive. In Hades (below the earth), souls are dead. On the earth, people marked with the seal of God are “pre-alive” and people in a state of sin are “pre-dead.” Either can be changed by an individual’s act of free will.
The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness. You can follow along with the video overview as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 10, “So the Four Angels Were Released,” on pages 60–65 in the study book.
read the Catechism—what are the three conditions that determine mortal sin?
Paragraph 1857 in the Catechism of the Church teaches that in order for an act to be considered a grave sin (mortal, leading to death), three conditions together must be met—”Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.” These three conditions are defined in paragraphs 1858 through 1860 in the Catechism.
1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not
bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.” The gravity of sins is more or less great: Murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: Violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.
1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.
1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.
WHAT DO YOU THINK about the mention of the Euphrates?
By mentioning the river Euphrates by name, the author of the book of Revelation is calling attention to a specific biblical location.
? What’s that location?
? What’s happening near the Euphrates River at this point in the book of Revelation?
? How does this fit in with events that are occurring in the other realms that have been affected by the blowing of the trumpets?
Evil One—you could look it up in our archives
The book of Revelation introduces destructive forces led by “the angel of the bottomless pit,” an image of Satan. To learn more about the Evil One, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.
who is Abaddon & what’s the bottomless pit?
Two vocabulary sidebars in this lesson provide more information about the king of the locusts and the bottomless pit: “Abaddon” on page 62 of The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness and “Abyss” on page 65.
the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic Bible study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.
the book of Revelation 9:4—paragraph 1296
ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out
persons and places mentioned in the biblical text under multiple names or spellings. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun in the primary biblical text for The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness.
to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the 
cross references pertaining to it—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page, and it includes links to cross references in the primary biblical text for The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness.
review previous lessons
As we progress through the book of Revelation, the images become more complex, increasing the potential for confusion. To help participants 
in our study keep track of what’s happening in the Scripture, we’ve prepared a chapter-by-chapter review of key events and images in the book of Revelation. A link can be found at the top of every online study page that accompanies The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness.
don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.
ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
You can find links to magisterial documents referred to in Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies 
at ex libris—magisterial documents. This page includes a listing of significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.
wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
the book of Revelation 9:1–21 (NIV)
close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following short prayer based on this lesson’s text from the book of Revelation.
O God of all Creation,
you teach us to honor your commandments
and to love you above the many forms of idolatry
that the present-day world has to offer.
Grant that we may remain firm in our faith
and devoted to your Son, Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.
Lesson 11 A Mighty Angel Come Down from Heaven, the book of Revelation 10:1–11
Lesson 9 Silence in Heaven, the book of Revelation 8:1–13
you also may like our study of the book of Genesis
The first seven lessons of In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provide an in-depth look at the very earliest biblical history—including the two accounts of Creation, events surrounding the Fall of Adam and Eve, the relationship between Cain and Abel, and the baptismal foreshadowing present in the account of Noah and the Flood. Remaining lessons look at lives of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.
start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness. 
Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer questions and offer support. Contact us if you’d like to start one of our studies or have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer
*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?
Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online pages of The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.
The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces these with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.
Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.
You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.