And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
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Bede
AD 735
tongues: As the righteous "will eat the labours of his own hands," so the ungodly also, exposed to the just punishments of his blasphemy, is satiated as it were with his own tongue. They hurt themselves therefore who blasphemed, because of the wrath of God, with which when they were pierced through, they thought it joy. <a
seat of the beast: The seat of the beast, that is, his kingdom, as it were the judiciary power, is darkened by plagues of this kind, that is, by the false joy of earthly felicity, and is made to be without light; as the Psalm has, "Thou didst cast them down, while they were lifted up." For he said not, after they were lifted up.
