Revelation 9:12 tells you that the first of three terrifying judgments in John’s vision is over, and two more are still coming. The verse is a signpost, not a final picture: it marks a turning point in the sequence of trumpets and woes that John sees unfolding. It is spoken within John’s account of his vision, where an angel or a narrating voice draws attention to the pattern so the reader keeps track of where the story is going. The audience is the seven churches of Asia Minor, the first readers of the book.
The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.
Revelation 9:12 (WEB)
What Revelation 9:12 Means
The phrase “the first woe is past” tells you that the terrible events of the fifth trumpet, with locust-like creatures tormenting people, have now ended. The word “woe” means a severe calamity or lament, and John uses it as a label for a group of disasters rather than a single event. Calling it “past” marks it as finished, so the reader can move forward in the sequence.
The second half, “behold, there are still two woes coming after this,” does two things. It warns that worse things are not over, and it reminds the reader that the timeline is still in God’s hands. The verse does not explain every detail of what the coming woes will be, and it does not promise that believers will be spared from suffering. It promises that the story is moving toward a conclusion God has already set.
The Context of Revelation 9:12
Revelation was written by a man named John, traditionally identified as the apostle, while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. Its language is apocalyptic, meaning it uses vivid symbols, numbers and visions to speak about God’s justice and the end of evil. Its first readers were Christians facing pressure from a surrounding culture, and the book was meant to encourage them that God sees, judges and will finally set things right.
Just before this verse, John describes creatures with scorpion-like tails that torment people for five months, under an angel called Abaddon or Apollyon. This is the fifth trumpet. Right after the verse, the sixth angel sounds and four angels are released from the Euphrates to kill a third of humanity. Read in that setting, the verse is a pause between two waves of judgment, which helps explain why the book keeps stressing that God is in control even when the disasters seem overwhelming.
Key Phrases in Revelation 9:12
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
(WEB)
This verse looks past the woes to the day God wipes away every tear and ends death and mourning. It shows where John’s sequence of judgments is leading, which gives the warnings of chapter 9 a hopeful final destination.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(WEB)
This psalm speaks of God as a refuge and strength in trouble. Reading it alongside Revelation 9:12 reminds you that even when terrifying stages of judgment and hardship come, God remains a steady place of shelter.
A Short Prayer From Revelation 9:12
Lord, you see the whole story from beginning to end, including the seasons of trouble I cannot yet understand. When one hard stage ends, help me receive the relief without assuming the road is finished. Give me steady trust for what is still ahead, and remind me that you hold the sequence of every moment in your hands. Keep me alert, patient and hopeful, resting in your faithfulness rather than my own fear. Amen.
