{13} And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

(13) The execution of the commandment is in two parts: one, that those butchers are let loose, that out of their tower of the spiritual Babylon they might with fury run abroad through all the world, as well the chief of that crew who are most prompt to all the work, in this verse: as their multitudes, both most copious, of which a number certain is named for a number infinite Re 9:16 and in themselves by all means fully furnished to hide and to hurt Re 9:17 as being armed with fire, smoke and brimstone, as appears in the colour of this armour, which dazzles the eyes to all men, and have the strength of lions to cause pain, from which (as out of their mouth) the fiery, smoky, and stinking darts of the pope are shot out Re 9:18 The other part, that these butchers have effected the commandment of God by fraud and violence, in the two verses following Re 9:16,17.

People's New Testament

9:15 And the four angels were loosed. Whatever these angels represent, they are no longer restrained. It is implied that there were four agencies, or a fourfold division.

Which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year. The Greek word eniautos used that for the regular solar year of 365-1/4 days, Julius Caesar having reformed the calendar. This would make 365-1/4, plus 30, plus 1, plus 1/12, equal 396-1/3 days. Or, a day being a symbol of a year, 396 years and four months.

Wesley's Notes

9:15 And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared - By loosing them, as well as by their strength and rage. To kill the third part of men - That is, an immense number of them. For the hour, and day, and month, and year - All this agrees with the slaughter which the Saracens made for a long time after Mahomet's death. And with the number of angels let loose agrees the number of their first and most eminent caliphs. These were Ali, Abubeker, Omar, and Osman. Mahomet named Ali, his cousin and son - in - law, for his successor; but he was soon worked out by the rest, till they severally died, and so made room for him. They succeeded each other, and each destroyed innumerable multitudes of men. There are in a prophetic Com. Years. Com. Days. Hour 8 Day 196 in all 212 years. Month 15 318 Year 196 117

King James Translators' Notes

for an hour: or, at an hour

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin angels

See Scofield Note: "Heb 1:4".

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. were-"which had been prepared" [Tregelles rightly].

for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year-rather as Greek, "for (that is, against) THE hour, and day, and month, and year," namely, appointed by God. The Greek article (teen), put once only before all the periods, implies that the hour in the day, and the day in the month, and the month in the year, and the year itself, had been definitely fixed by God. The article would have been omitted had a sum-total of periods been specified, namely, three hundred ninety-one years and one month (the period from A.D. 1281, when the Turks first conquered the Christians, to 1672, their last conquest of them, since which last date their empire has declined).

slay-not merely to "hurt" (Re 9:10), as in the fifth trumpet.

third part-(See on [2696]Re 8:7-12).

of men-namely, of earthy men, Re 8:13, "inhabiters of the earth," as distinguished from God's sealed people (of which the sealed of Israel, Re 7:1-8, form the nucleus).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:13-21 The sixth angel sounded, and here the power of the Turks seems the subject. Their time is limited. They not only slew in war, but brought a poisonous and ruinous religion. The antichristian generation repented not under these dreadful judgments. From this sixth trumpet learn that God can make one enemy of the church a scourge and a plague to another. The idolatry in the remains of the eastern church and elsewhere, and the sins of professed Christians, render this prophecy and its fulfilment more wonderful. And the attentive reader of Scripture and history, may find his faith and hope strengthened by events, which in other respects fill his heart with anguish and his eyes with tears, while he sees that men who escape these plagues, repent not of their evil works, but go on with idolatries, wickedness, and cruelty, till wrath comes upon them to the utmost.