Abaddon

Biblical Texts

Abaddon appears in the Old Testament wisdom literature and in the New Testament Book of Revelation.

• Old Testament: The word occurs in Job 26:6, 28:22, and 31:12; Psalms 88:11; and Proverbs 15:11 and 27:20. In most of these passages it is paired with "Sheol" (Hades), "death," or "the grave." Proverbs 15:11 says that Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD ("Hell and destruction are before the LORD"), and Proverbs 27:20 says that Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied ("Hell and destruction are never full"). In Job 28:22 Abaddon is personified as a being that speaks together with death ("Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears"). Korean translations sometimes render the word by its meaning, as "destruction" or a similar term, and sometimes transliterate it as "Abaddon."
• New Testament: The word appears once, in Revelation 9:11. After the fifth trumpet sounds, locusts come up out of the bottomless pit (the abyss), and the text records: "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."

Meaning and Background of the Word

Abaddon is a noun derived from the Hebrew verbal root abad, meaning "to perish" or "to be destroyed," and it signifies "destruction" or "place of destruction." In the Old Testament it served as a poetic expression for the depths to which the dead go. The Septuagint generally translated the word with a Greek term meaning "destruction." Apollyon in Revelation means "one who destroys," that is, "the Destroyer." By giving both the Hebrew and the Greek names, Revelation uses a word that had designated a place as the name of a personal being.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

In the Old Testament, Abaddon is not a place beyond the reach of God's rule. Even Abaddon has "no covering" before God (Job 26:6: "Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering"). This is a confession that even the realm of death and destruction lies exposed before God. Revelation takes up this term and gives a name to the power that brings destruction. At the same time, it records that the locusts may not harm those who have the seal of God and are restricted to acting only for an appointed period (Revelation 9:4–5). This continues the Old Testament perspective that even the forces of destruction are under God's sovereignty.

Interpretations and Points of Debate

• The identity of Abaddon: Some interpreters identify Abaddon with Satan. Others regard him as a fallen angel or a chief of demons distinct from Satan. A minority read him as an angel of judgment sent by God, connecting him with Revelation 20:1–3, where an angel holding the key of the bottomless pit binds Satan. Opinions also differ on whether the star that falls from heaven in Revelation 9:1 and Abaddon in 9:11 are the same being.
• Differences by interpretive method: Historicist interpretation, which reads Revelation as an unfolding of church history, has at times identified the locusts and Abaddon with particular historical powers or individuals. Futurist interpretation, which reads the book as describing events yet to come, particularly dispensationalism, sees them as a spiritual calamity of the last days. Symbolic interpretation understands the passage as a picture of the forces of evil and destruction in general. Some scholars suggest that Apollyon is a play on the name of the Greek god Apollo, but there is no broad consensus on this view.
• Material outside the biblical text: Detailed accounts of Abaddon's appearance, rank, or activities come from later Jewish and Christian tradition, literature, and popular culture; they are not found in the biblical text. In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the protagonist, Christian, fights the monster Apollyon in a valley. Because the book has been widely read in Korean churches, the name Apollyon became well known, but the creature's depiction there is a literary invention.