And it was granted the locusts, not to kill them, but that these should be tormented five months, and the torment upon them was as torment by a scorpion when it strikes a man.

Revelation 9:4-

11. (a) How long are the locusts authorized to torment God’s enemies, and why is that not really a short time? (b) How severe is the torment?

¹¹ The torment lasts for five months. Is that a relatively short time? Not from the point of view of a literal locust. Five months describes the normal life span of one of these insects. Therefore, it is for as long as they live that the modern-day locusts keep stinging God’s enemies. Moreover, the torment is so severe that men seek to die. True, we have no record that any of those who were stung by the locusts actually tried to kill themselves. But the expression helps us to picture the intensity of the torment​—as though by the relentless assault of scorpions.

12. Why are the locusts granted to torment the religious leaders of Christendom, in a spiritual sense, but not to kill them?

¹² Why is it granted to torment these ones, in a spiritual sense, and not to kill them? This is an initial woe in the exposing of the lies of Christendom and her failures, but only later, as the Lord’s day progresses, will her deathlike spiritual state be fully publicized. It will be during a second woe that a third of the men are killed.​—Revelation 1:10; 9:12, 18; 11:14.