Revelation 9:5: And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

The symbolic locusts of the First Woe possess the painful sting of a scorpion,¹ but they cannot kill people.² This means that when the fifth trumpet angel turns the key of the bottomless pit (hell),³ the Lord will permit⁴ both unembodied and disembodied sons of perdition to torment wicked people on earth⁵ that do not have the seal of God in their forehead.⁶ Their torment shall be as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.⁷ Some people will certainly die from the collateral effects of evil and wickedness during the First Woe.⁸ However, spiritual malignancy is the prevalent plague of the First Woe⁹ rather than a physical war involving mortal combatants.¹⁰

The assault of evil spirits during the First Woe¹¹ will last five months.¹² Some scholars interpret this to mean 150 days (5 months x 30 days/month), which they equate to 150 prophetic years.¹³ Some scholars with this mindset also identify a specific time in past history for this 150-year period.¹⁴ Nevertheless, the five months is a literal period of about 150 days¹⁵ that still lies in the future.¹⁶ The five months correspond to the actual life span of real locusts.¹⁷ John also equates these locusts from hell with the power of scorpions of the earth,¹⁸ which tends to validate the earthly measure of five months. Even if five months is not precisely literal, the period of the First Woe will be a relatively short period of time¹⁹ when the wicked will be severely tormented²⁰ as they ripen in iniquity.²¹ The Savior told his disciples that such days of tribulation would be shortened for the elect's sake.²² The elect are heirs of exaltation according to the covenant,²³ including those that have the seal of the living God in their foreheads.²⁴

During the brief spiritual malignancy of the First Woe, the wicked will ripen in iniquity, and their iniquity will inevitably lead to the physical battle of Armageddon that follows when the sixth trumpet angel sounds the Second Woe.²⁵ Many people will desire death before Armageddon during the First Woe but will be unable to obtain it. That will change during Physical Armageddon of the Second Woe when the third part of men will die in a literal battle between and among wicked mortals.²⁶

Revelation 9:6: And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Those days in Revelation 9:6 refer to the future period of the First Woe,²⁷ when evil,²⁸ sorceries,²⁹ and moral corruption³⁰ will be rampant.³¹ The first four plagues of the seventh seal will give wicked people a consciousness of their guilt.³² The torment of the First Woe will then follow, and that torment shall be so severe³³ that these wicked people shall seek death, and shall not find it.³⁴ They shall desire to die³⁵ as a source of relief,³⁶ much like the seven classes of wicked people at the end of the sixth seal in Revelation 6:15-16.³⁷ However, during the First Woe, the Lord will generally not allow death to relieve wicked people from their appointed suffering and torment on earth.³⁸