Should not kill: “ 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 it striketh a Prayer of Manasseh--9:5. The victims were not put to death--the descriptions of the siege of Jerusalem. But tormented five months: This referred to the literal period of time for the season of locusts, from spring to autumn (May to September), but here it figuratively denoted the full time, the whole period for the effects described, designating figuratively the period of the siege. Torment as of a scorpion when he strikes man: The baneful effects of the siege on its victims had figuratively all of the sting of the scorpion’ s tail-sorrow, suffering, famine, pestilence, carnage, stench and putrefaction, indescribable. Vivid description of these deadly carriers of the scourge of pestilence and putrefaction are narrated in dictionaries of antiquities and historical works, such as Josephus and Pliny.