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Revelation 9:14

ESV saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
NIV It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.'
NASB saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.'
CSB say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates."
NLT And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.'
KJV Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

What does Revelation 9:14 mean?

These are the words of a voice John hears coming from the four horns of the golden altar (Revelation 9:13), the temple object described in Exodus 27:2. This voice commands the sixth angel with the trumpet to free the four angels who are held captive at the Euphrates river, the ancient boundary between Assyria and Israel. Once again, Revelation reminds us that God is ultimately in control of these events, allowing or announcing each one. At no point in the end times is evil allowed to run entirely out of control.

We know that these are demonic beings because they are described as "bound." Demons are fallen angels, many of whom are bound in "chains of gloomy darkness" (2 Peter 2:4). God's good angels are not bound but are free, as are some of Satan's angels / demons. Ephesians 6:12 tells us "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

The region of the Euphrates, where these four angels are bound, has a notorious relationship to human sin. The first murder was committed, presumably, not far from the garden of Eden, in the Euphrates region (Genesis 4:8). The first war confederacy took place in that region (Genesis 14). Nimrod began his kingdom there (Genesis 10:8–12). Babylonian idolatry sprang up in the region and will be judged there (Zechariah 5; Revelation 18).
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