And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
The book of Revelation was written by a man named John around 95 AD while exiled on a small island called Patmos, likely during a period of Roman persecution of Christians. It is a highly symbolic, apocalyptic book — filled with visions and imagery meant to convey spiritual realities, not a straightforward timeline of future events. This verse appears during the fifth of seven "trumpet" judgments — dramatic scenes symbolizing the consequences of a world in rebellion against God. "The Abyss" is a term for a place of deep spiritual darkness and imprisonment. Both "Abaddon" in Hebrew and "Apollyon" in Greek mean "Destroyer." The passage depicts evil not as random or formless, but as organized — with its own king, its own name, its own dark domain. It is one of the most unsettling verses in the Bible and resists comfortable or tidy interpretation.
God, I don't always know what to do with the dark parts of your Word. But I trust you placed them there for a reason. Help me to name evil honestly without being consumed by fear, and to hold the reality of darkness alongside the certainty of your final victory. I am not abandoned. Amen.
We don't usually read this verse at Christmas. It doesn't show up on inspirational quote posters. But it's there — same Bible, same canon — and a faith that skips past it in favor of tidier passages might be a faith that hasn't yet made contact with the full weight of reality. Revelation doesn't offer comfort through simplicity. It offers comfort through honesty. And the honest thing it says here is that destruction has a name, a throne, and an organized intent. The chaos you sense in the world — and sometimes in yourself — is not random noise. The Bible takes evil far more seriously than sanitized religion ever will. This verse isn't an invitation to fear. Its place in the larger story of Revelation matters enormously: Abaddon is named, but he is not the final word. Every judgment in Revelation is followed by more — and the whole book ends not with the Destroyer but with a wedding, a new city, a complete renewal. You can sit with a verse like this and let it do honest work: you're not paranoid for noticing darkness, not naive for calling it what it is, and not abandoned in the middle of it. The Destroyer has a name. So does the One who unmakes him.
Why do you think the Bible includes passages as dark and unsettling as this one — what might its presence in Scripture be meant to do in the reader?
How do you typically respond to the reality of evil in the world — through denial, fear, cynicism, or something else — and where do you think that response comes from?
Does it comfort or disturb you that the Bible names evil and gives it a face rather than treating it as vague or abstract? Why might naming it matter spiritually?
How does taking evil seriously — as something organized and intentional, not just human weakness — shape the way you respond to people who seem caught in its grip, whether through addiction, cruelty, or self-destruction?
Knowing that Revelation ends with complete renewal and God's final victory, how does holding that larger arc change the way you sit with a passage like this one today?
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
2 Corinthians 4:4
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1 Timothy 4:1
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians 2:2
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
2 Corinthians 11:15
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 8:44
Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
John 14:30
And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?
Matthew 12:26
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Revelation 9:1
They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss (the bottomless pit); in Hebrew his name is Abaddon (destruction), and in Greek he is called Apollyon (destroyer-king).
AMP
They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
ESV
They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
NASB
They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
NIV
And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
NKJV
Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon — the Destroyer.
NLT
They had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon—"Destroyer."
MSG