And in those days the men will seek death but will by no means find it, and they will desire to die but death keeps fleeing from them.”​—Revelation 9:4-6.

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. It is like the suffering foreseen by Jeremiah for those unfaithful Israelites who would be scattered by the Babylonian conquerors and for whom death would be preferable to life.​—Jeremiah 8:3; see also Ecclesiastes 4:2, 3.