542. Verses 3-12. And out of the smoke there went forth locusts on the earth; and there was given unto them power as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads. And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it, and they shall long to die and death shall flee from them. And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle; and upon their heads as it were crowns like gold, and their faces as men's faces. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as those of lions. And they had breastplates as iron breastplates; and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running into battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had over them a king, the angel of the abyss, his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon. One woe is past; behold there come yet two woes after this.

3. "And out of the smoke there went forth locusts on the earth," signifies that from infernal falsities they became corporeal sensual in the church n. 543; "and there was given unto them power as the scorpions of the earth have power," signifies their ability to persuade, and its effect and power n. 544.

4. "And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree," signifies that they should do no harm to any true and living knowledge [scientificum] from the sense of the letter of the Word, nor to any knowledge of truth and good therein n. 545; "but the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads" signifies but only to the understanding of truth and the perception of good in those who are not in truths from good from the Lord. n. 546).

5. "And it was given ¹ to them that they should not kill them," signifies that they should not be deprived of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good n. 547; "but that they should torment them five months," signifies that the understanding would be darkened and drawn away by the falsities of evil from seeing truth so long as they are in that state n. 548; "and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man," signifies that the darkening and drawing away from seeing the truth is caused by the persuasion with which the mind is infatuated (n. 549).

6. "And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it," signifies that they then wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth, but are not able (n. 550); "and they shall long to die and death shall flee from them," signifies that they wish to destroy the faculty to perceive good, which is of spiritual life, but in vain (n. 551).

7. "And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle," signifies that when man has become sensual he reasons like one who reasons from the understanding of truth n. 552; "and upon their heads as it were crowns like gold," signifies that they seem to themselves when they reason as if they were wise and victorious n. 553; "and their faces as men's faces," signifies that they seem to themselves as it were spiritual affections for truth n. 554.

8. "And they had hair as the hair of women," signifies that they seem to themselves to be as it were affections of natural ² truth n. 555; "and their teeth were as those of lions," signifies that the sensual things which are the ultimates of the intellectual life seem to them to have power over all things n. 556.

9. "And they had breastplates as iron breastplates," signifies the persuasions with which they gird themselves for combats, against which the truths of the rational spiritual man prevail not n. 557; "and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running into battle," signifies reasonings as if from the truths of doctrine from the Word which are understood, for which they must fight ardently (n. 558).

10. "And they had tails like scorpions," signifies sensual knowledges [scientifica] that are persuasive n. 559; "and stings were in their tails," signifies craftiness in deceiving by means of them n. 560; "and their power was to hurt the men five months," signifies that while in that state they induce a stupor in the understanding of truth and in the perception of good (n. 561).

11. "And they had over them a king, the angel of the abyss," signifies that they received influx from the hell where those are who are in the falsities of evil and are merely sensual (n. 562); "his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon," signifies its quality, that it is destructive of all truth and good n. 563.

12. "One woe is past; behold, there come yet two woes after this," signifies one lamentation over the devastation of the church, and that a lamentation over its further devastation follows (n. 564).

Footnotes:

5340. And he gathered together all the food of the seven years. That this signifies the preservation of truth adjoined to good multiplied during the first times, is evident from the signification of “gathering together,” as here being to preserve; for he gathered it together and put it in the cities and in the midst, and by this is signified that he stored it up in the interiors, thus that he preserved it, for it came into use in the years of famine; and from the signification of “food,” as being all that by which the internal man is nourished. That this is good and truth, is evident from the correspondence of the earthly food by which the outward man is nourished, with the spiritual food by which the internal man is nourished. Here therefore it is truth adjoined to good, for this is what is preserved and stored up in the interiors.

By the “seven years” are signified the first states when truths are multiplied (n. 5339). From this it is plain that the preservation of truth adjoined to good, multiplied during the first times, is signified by “he gathered together all the food of the seven years.” It is said “the preservation of truth adjoined to good,” but as few know what truth adjoined to good is, and still less how and when truth is adjoined to good, something must be said about it. Truth is conjoined with good when a man feels delight in doing well to the neighbor for the sake of what is true and good, and not for the sake of self or the world. When a man is in this affection, the truths he hears or reads or thinks are conjoined with good, as is usually noticeable from the affection of truth for the sake of that end.

545. Verse 4. (Revelation 9:4) And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, signifies that they should do no harm to any true and living knowledge [scientificum] from the sense of the letter of the Word, nor to any cognitions of truth and good therein. This is evident from the signification of "not to hurt," as being not to do harm to; from the signification of "grass," as being true knowledge [scientificum]; and from the signification of "green thing," as being living knowledge [scientificum] (of which see above, n. 507; and as every true and living knowledge is from the Word, "not to hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing" signifies not to do harm to true and living knowledge from the Word. It is evident also from the signification of "trees," as being the cognitions of truth and good, also from the Word (See above, n. 109, 420).

[2] Knowledges [scientifica] from the Word mean all things of the sense of its letter there in which doctrine does not appear, while cognitions of truth and good mean all things of the sense of the letter of the Word in which and from which is doctrine. That harm should not be done to any true and living knowledge [scientificum], nor to the cognitions of truth and good from the Word, means that the sensual man by his persuasiveness must not pervert any meaning of the letter of the Word by denying it to be true; for if he does this all is lost with him, for there is then no hope of his reformation, nor has he any faculty of understanding the truth of the church. For he who denies that the Word is Divine in the entire sense of the letter, breaks off his connection with heaven, because it is through the Word that man has conjunction with heaven (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 303-310).

[3] This describes what the state of the man of the church is when it is near its end, namely, that from internal or spiritual he becomes external and sensual; but yet lest he should wholly perish the Lord provides and takes care that he does not do injury to anything in the sense of the letter of the Word by denying it to be true and living, that is, Divine, although by means of the sense of the letter he confirms his falsities and evils; for so long as he does not deny the Divine in the Word he still reads it or listens to it, and is thereby in some conjunction with heaven. This makes clear that these words signify that this much of the church will still remain; but what follows, namely, that they should hurt "those men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads" signifies that this ultimate sensual should do harm only to the understanding of truth with those who are not in truths from good from the Lord.