Abaddon

Abaddon is one of the Bible's darker names — a Hebrew word for destruction used six times in the Old Testament as a near-synonym for *Sheol*, the realm of the dead (Job 26:6, 28:22, 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11, 27:20). In Job and Proverbs, Sheol and Abaddon are paired as the two great regions unseen — but laid bare before God.

The New Testament personifies the term. In Revelation 9:11, at the sounding of the fifth trumpet, John sees an angel released from the bottomless pit at the head of a swarm of demonic locusts: *They have as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. Both names mean destroyer.* The figure is judged, not worshipped.

Christian commentators have long debated who Abaddon is. Some read him as a personification of destruction itself, others as a specific fallen angel under judgment, others as a title for Satan or one of his lieutenants. The Bible itself does not resolve the question; it identifies the figure by office — the destroyer — and leaves the identification at that. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress gave the name its enduring English literary life: Apollyon is Christian's fiercest adversary on the road, defeated only by the whole armor of God.