Isaiah 24

1 Watch out! The Lord is going to destroy the earth, to make it totally devastated. He's going to rip up the surface of the earth and scatter its inhabitants.

Behold, the Lord is about to lay waste the world, and will make it desolate, and will lay bare the surface of it, and scatter them that dwell therein.

2 It will happen the same for everybody—whether people or priests, servants or their masters, maids or their mistresses, buyers or sellers, lenders or borrowers, creditors or debtors.

And the people shall be as the priest, and the servant as the lord, and the maid as the mistress; the buyer shall be as the seller, the lender as the borrower, and the debtor as his creditor.

3 The earth will be completely laid waste and looted. This is what the Lord has said.

The earth shall be completely laid waste, and the earth shall be utterly spoiled: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.

4 The earth dries up and withers away; the world shrivels up and withers away, the high and mighty people shrivel up along with the earth.

The earth mourns, and the world is ruined, the lofty ones of the earth are mourning.

5 The earth is polluted by its people; they have flouted God's laws, violated his regulations, and broken the eternal agreement with him.

And she has sinned by reason of her inhabitants; because they have transgressed the law, and changed the ordinances, [even] the everlasting covenant.

6 That is why a curse is destroying the earth. The people suffer because of their guilt. The inhabitants of the earth are burned up and only a few survive.

Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, because the inhabitants thereof have sinned: therefore the dwellers in the earth shall be poor, and few men shall be left.

7 The new wine dries up, and the vine withers. All the people celebrating groan.

The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, all the merry-hearted shall sigh.

8 The happy sound of tambourines is over; the noise of the party-goers has stopped; the delightful harp music has finished,

The mirth of timbrels has ceased, the sound of the harp has ceased.

9 People don't sing any more as they drink wine, and the beer tastes bitter.

They are ashamed, they have not drunk wine; strong drink has become bitter to them that drink [it].

10 The chaotic city is falling apart; every house is barred shut to keep others out.

All the city has become desolate: one shall shut his house so that none shall enter.

11 Crowds on the street are shouting, demanding to have wine. Joy turns into darkness. There's no happiness left on earth.

There is a howling for the wine everywhere; all the mirth of the land has ceased, all the mirth of the land has departed.

12 The city is in a horrible state of ruin; its gates have been broken down.

And cities shall be left desolate, and houses being left shall fall to ruin.

13 This is the way it's going to be all throughout the earth among the nations—only a few olives are left after the tree is shaken, only a few grapes are left to be gleaned after the harvest.

All this shall be in the land in the midst of the nations, as if one should strip an olive tree, so shall they strip them; but when the vintage is done,

14 These survivors shout aloud and sing for joy. From the west they praise the Lord's majesty.

these shall cry aloud; and they that are left on the land shall rejoice together in the glory of the Lord: the water of the sea shall be troubled.

15 From the east they glorify the Lord; from the sea shores they praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Therefore shall the glory of the Lord be in the isles of the sea; the name of the Lord shall be glorious.

16 We hear songs coming from the ends of the earth, singing, “Glory to the God who does right.” But I'm miserable, miserable. Pity me! Deceitful people go on betraying, again and again.

O Lord God of Israel, from the ends of the earth we have heard wonderful things, [and there is] hope to the godly: but they shall say, Woe to the despisers, that despise the law.

17 Terrors and pit-traps and snares are waiting for you, people of the earth.

Fear, and a pit, and a snare, are upon you that dwell on the earth.

18 Those who run away in terror will fall into a pit-trap, and those who escape from the pit-trap will be caught in a snare. Heaven's windows are opened; earth's foundations shake.

And it shall come to pass, [that] he that flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the pit shall be caught by the snare: for windows have been opened in heaven, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken,

19 The earth is completely broken up; the earth is ripped apart, the earth is violently shaken.

the earth shall be utterly confounded, and the earth shall be completely perplexed.

20 The earth staggers to and fro like a drunk, and sways this way and that like a shelter. The guilt of its rebelliousness weighs heavily on it, and it collapses—it won't rise again.

It reels as a drunkard and one oppressed with wine, and the earth shall be shaken as a storehouse of fruits; for iniquity has prevailed upon it, and it shall fall, and shall not be able to rise.

21 At that time the Lord will punish all the high heavenly beings and the kings of the earth.

And God shall bring [his] hand upon the host of heaven, and upon the kings of the earth.

22 They will be brought together, prisoners in a pit. They will be imprisoned, and eventually they will be punished.

And they shall gather the multitude thereof into prisons, and they shall shut them into a strong hold: after many generations they shall be visited.

23 The moon will be embarrassed and the sun will be ashamed, for the Lord Almighty will reign in glory on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem in the presence of its leaders.

And the brick shall decay, and the wall shall fall; for the Lord shall reign from out of Sion, and out of Jerusalem, and shall be glorified before [his] elders.