Revelation 9:3 describes a swarm of locusts coming up out of the smoke released from the abyss, and it says they were given real power, the kind that scorpions have to sting. In plain terms, John is picturing a terrifying, unnatural plague that God permits for a limited purpose. The words come from John, who writes this apocalyptic vision while exiled on the island of Patmos, and they are addressed to the seven churches of Asia Minor who first read the book.
Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Revelation 9:3 (WEB)
What Revelation 9:3 Means
The verse begins with “out of the smoke,” which tells you the locusts do not arrive from the normal sky or the normal earth. They rise from the pit that was just opened in verse 2, so their source is the abyss, a place of confinement and spiritual darkness in Jewish and early Christian thought. Their appearance is strange and frightening from the start, and John wants you to feel that the natural order has been disturbed.
Then the verse says “power was given to them.” That phrase is the heart of it. The locusts do not act on their own initiative. Someone grants them authority, and in the wider chapter that authority is God’s permission rather than a rival’s gift. The comparison to scorpions, which “have power,” stresses that their sting is genuine and painful, but it is still a power that has been handed over and limited.
What the verse does not do is explain every detail of the vision or assign a precise modern identity to the locusts. It describes an event within a larger symbolic picture. Read carefully, it teaches that evil forces operate only within boundaries God sets, while also showing that those boundaries still allow real suffering.
The Context of Revelation 9:3
Revelation is an apocalyptic book, meaning it reveals hidden realities through dramatic visions, and it is traditionally attributed to John, who writes to churches facing pressure, persecution, and the temptation to compromise with the surrounding empire. Chapter 9 belongs to the sequence of trumpet judgments that unfolds after the seven seals. The fifth trumpet, sounded by the angel in verse 1, opens the pit, and verse 3 is the first moment the released forces become visible.
Reading the verse alongside verses 4 through 6 changes its emotional weight. The locusts are forbidden to harm the grass or trees and are told to target only people without God’s seal, and their torment is limited to five months. So the verse, though terrifying, is embedded in a message about divine restraint and protection. It is best read as encouragement to faithful believers who need to see that suffering, however intense, is neither random nor outside God’s governance.
Key Phrases in Revelation 9:3
Revelation 9:4
They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads.
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Verse 4 finishes the thought begun in verse 3 by showing that the locusts are restricted in whom they may harm. Reading it right after verse 3 shows that the power given to the locusts comes with clear limits, and that God’s seal marks those he protects.
Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
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Paul’s assurance that God works all things together for good offers a complementary lens. Revelation 9:3 shows painful forces at work under divine permission, and Romans 8:28 helps you see that God can weave even hard experiences into a purpose that ends in good for his people.
A Short Prayer From Revelation 9:3
Lord, the vision of locusts rising from the smoke is frightening, and some of the pressure I face feels just as overwhelming. Thank you that nothing reaches me without your permission and that your limits still hold, even when the sting is real. Help me name what hurts, bring it honestly before you, and trust that your protection and purpose are bigger than the power of whatever is against me today. Keep my eyes on you when the smoke is thick, and give me steady faith to keep going. Amen.
