KJV: For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
YLT: for their authorities are in their mouth, and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do injure;
Darby: For the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails: for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they injure.
ASV: For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails are like unto serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt.
This added description of the horses supports the conclusion that they represent angelic instruments of divine judgment other than natural horses. Some interpreters have suggested that what they represent are modern weapons that shoot both forward and backward, such as missiles. The locusts had the power to injure like scorpions with their tails ( Revelation 9:10), but these horses have power to kill like serpents with their tails, which is worse (cf. Revelation 9:15). [source][source][source]
Context Summary
Revelation 9:12-21 - Impenitent In Spite Of All
The river Euphrates possibly stands for nations and hordes of men emanating from that region; and these verses are held by a large number of expositors to foretell the invasion of Europe by the Turks, who have desolated and held the sacred places of the Jewish faith. The Church of that time was eaten through with idolatry. Image worship had become almost universal, and the invariable consequence of this relapse from the noble spiritual ideals of the Jewish and Christian dispensations was materialism, sensuality, and the greed of the priest. On the other hand, the Turks were fierce iconoclasts, and their progress everywhere was marked by the demolition of Christian emblems.
Demons contrive to get themselves worshiped under the effigies of idolatry; and murders, sorceries, fornication, and theft infest their temples. There is perpetual controversy between the spirit of truth and these perversities; and this conflict must continue, not only in the Church, but in the heart, until everything that opposes the reign of the Spirit is overthrown, and every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5. Is this supremacy of the Spirit secured for thee, my reader? [source]
Chapter Summary: Revelation 9
1At the sounding of the fifth angel, a star falls from heaven, to whom is given the key to the bottomless pit 2He opens the pit, and there come forth locusts like scorpions 12The first woe past 13The sixth trumpet sounds 14Four angels who were bound are let loose
Greek Commentary for Revelation 9:19
The power [η εχουσια] As in Revelation 2:26; Revelation 6:8. This power of the horses is both in their mouths (because of the fire, smoke, brimstone) and in their tails, “for their tails are like unto serpents” Associative-instrumental case οπεσιν ophesin after ομοιαι homoiai Οπις Ophis is old word for snake (Matthew 7:10). [source]
Having heads [εχουσαι κεπαλας] Feminine present active participle of εχω echō agreeing with ουραι ourai (tails).With them (εν αυταις en autais). Instrumental use of εν en Surely dreadful monsters. [source]
With them [εν αυταις] Instrumental use of εν en Surely dreadful monsters. [source]
Their power [ἐξουσίαι αὐτῶν] Read ἐξουσία τῶν ἵππων thepower of the horses. [source]
Like unto serpents [] “Long, smooth, subtle, clasping their victim in an embrace from which he cannot escape” (Milligan). As one of the innumerable fantasies of Apocalyptic exposition may be cited that of Elliott (“Horae Apocalypticae”) who finds a reference to the horse tails, the symbols of authority of the Turkish pashas. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 9:19
Revelation 9:7Unto horses [ιπποις] Associative-instrumental case, as is the rule with ομοιος homoios (Revelation 1:15; Revelation 2:18; Revelation 4:6.; Revelation 9:10,Revelation 9:19; Revelation 11:1; Revelation 13:2,Revelation 13:11), but with the accusative in Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14. So also ομοιοι χρυσωι homoioi chrusōi (like gold) in this same verse.Prepared for war (ητοιμασμενοις εις πολεμον hētoimasmenois eis polemon). Perfect passive participle of ετοιμαζω hetoimazō This imagery of war-horses is like that in Joel 2:4. “The likeness of a locust to a horse, especially to a horse equipped with armour, is so striking that the insect is named in German heupferd (hay horse), and in Italian cavalett a little horse” (Vincent).As it were crowns Not actual crowns, but what looked like crowns of gold, as conquerors, as indeed they were (Revelation 4:4; Revelation 6:2; Revelation 12:1; Revelation 14:14). These locusts of the abyss have another peculiar feature.As men‘s faces (ως προσωπα αντρωπων hōs prosōpa anthrōpōn). Human-looking faces in these demonic locusts to give added terror, “suggesting the intelligence and capacity of man” (Swete). Vincent actually sees “a distinct resemblance to the human countenance in the face of the locust.” [source]
Greek Commentary for Revelation 9:19
As in Revelation 2:26; Revelation 6:8. This power of the horses is both in their mouths (because of the fire, smoke, brimstone) and in their tails, “for their tails are like unto serpents” Associative-instrumental case οπεσιν ophesin after ομοιαι homoiai Οπις Ophis is old word for snake (Matthew 7:10). [source]
Feminine present active participle of εχω echō agreeing with ουραι ourai (tails).With them (εν αυταις en autais). Instrumental use of εν en Surely dreadful monsters. [source]
Instrumental use of εν en Surely dreadful monsters. [source]
Read ἐξουσία τῶν ἵππων thepower of the horses. [source]
“Long, smooth, subtle, clasping their victim in an embrace from which he cannot escape” (Milligan). As one of the innumerable fantasies of Apocalyptic exposition may be cited that of Elliott (“Horae Apocalypticae”) who finds a reference to the horse tails, the symbols of authority of the Turkish pashas. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 9:19
See Revelation 9:10, Revelation 9:19. [source]
Associative-instrumental case, as is the rule with ομοιος homoios (Revelation 1:15; Revelation 2:18; Revelation 4:6.; Revelation 9:10, Revelation 9:19; Revelation 11:1; Revelation 13:2, Revelation 13:11), but with the accusative in Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14. So also ομοιοι χρυσωι homoioi chrusōi (like gold) in this same verse.Prepared for war (ητοιμασμενοις εις πολεμον hētoimasmenois eis polemon). Perfect passive participle of ετοιμαζω hetoimazō This imagery of war-horses is like that in Joel 2:4. “The likeness of a locust to a horse, especially to a horse equipped with armour, is so striking that the insect is named in German heupferd (hay horse), and in Italian cavalett a little horse” (Vincent).As it were crowns Not actual crowns, but what looked like crowns of gold, as conquerors, as indeed they were (Revelation 4:4; Revelation 6:2; Revelation 12:1; Revelation 14:14). These locusts of the abyss have another peculiar feature.As men‘s faces (ως προσωπα αντρωπων hōs prosōpa anthrōpōn). Human-looking faces in these demonic locusts to give added terror, “suggesting the intelligence and capacity of man” (Swete). Vincent actually sees “a distinct resemblance to the human countenance in the face of the locust.” [source]
Old word, in N.T. only in Revelation 9:10, Revelation 9:19; Revelation 12:4. [source]