Isaiah 24
1 Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth emptie, and hee maketh it waste: hee turneth it vpside downe, and scattereth abrode the inhabitants thereof.
2 people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
And there shalbe like people, like Priest, and like seruaunt, like master, like maide, like mistresse, like bier, like seller, like lender, like borower, like giuer, like taker to vsurie.
3 The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered.
The earth shalbe cleane emptied, and vtterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this worde.
4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
The earth lamenteth and fadeth away: the world is feeble and decaied: the proude people of the earth are weakened.
5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.
The earth also deceiueth, because of the inhabitantes thereof: for they transgressed the lawes: they changed the ordinances, and brake the euerlasting couenant.
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.
Therefore hath the curse deuoured the earth, and the inhabitantes thereof are desolate. Wherefore the inhabitants of the land are burned vp, and fewe men are left.
7 The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.
The wine faileth, the vine hath no might: all that were of merie heart, doe mourne.
8 The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth: the noyse of them that reioyce, endeth: the ioye of the harpe ceaseth.
9 They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.
They shall not drinke wine with mirth: strong drinke shall be bitter to them that drinke it.
10 The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
The citie of vanitie is broken downe: euery house is shut vp, that no man may come in.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.
There is a crying for wine in the streetes: al ioy is darkened: the mirth of the world is gone away.
12 The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.
In the citie is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
13 So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
Surely thus shall it bee in the middes of the earth, among the people, as the shaking of an oliue tree, and as the grapes when the vintage is ended.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.
They shall lift vp their voyce: they shall shout for the magnificence of the Lord: they shall reioyce from the sea.
15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the east. Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea.
Wherefore praise yee the Lord in the valleis, euen the Name of the Lord God of Israel, in the yles of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery.
From the vttermost part of the earth wee haue heard praises, euen glory to the iust, and I sayd, My leanesse, my leanesse, woe is mee: the transgressours haue offended: yea, the transgressours haue grieuously offended.
17 Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
Feare, and the pitte, and the snare are vpon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
And hee that fleeth from the noyse of the feare, shall fall into the pit: and he that commeth vp out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the windowes from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth doe shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken apart, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken violently.
The earth is vtterly broken downe: the earth is cleane dissolued: the earth is mooued exceedingly.
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.
The earth shall reele to and from like a drunken man, and shall be remooued like a tent, and the iniquitie thereof shall be heauie vpon it: so that it shall fall, and rise no more.
21 In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.
And in that day shall the Lord visite the hoste aboue that is on hie, euen the Kinges of the world that are vpon the earth.
22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.
And they shall be gathered together, as the prisoners in the pit: and they shall be shut vp in the prison, and after many daies shall they be visited.
23 The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.
Then the moone shall be abashed, and the sunne ashamed, when the Lord of hostes shall reigne in mount Zion and in Ierusalem: and glory shalbe before his ancient men.
