Isaiah 24

1 Behold, YHWH is emptying the earth, And is making it desolate, And has overturned [it on] its face, And has scattered 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 And it has been—as a people so a priest, As the servant so his master, As the maidservant so her mistress, As the buyer so the seller, As the lender so the borrower, As the usurer so he who is lifting [it] on himself.

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 is utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled, For YHWH has spoken this word:

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 has mourned, faded, The world has languished, faded, They have languished—the high place of the people of the earth.

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

5 And the earth has been defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed laws, They have changed a statute, They have made void a perpetual covenant.

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

6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, And the inhabitants in it become desolate, Therefore inhabitants of the earth have been consumed, And few men have been left.

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 has mourned, the vine languished, All the joyful of heart have sighed.

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

8 The joy of tambourines has ceased, The noise of exulting ones has ceased, The joy of a harp has ceased.

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

9 They do not drink wine with a song, Strong drink is bitter to those drinking it.

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

10 It was broken down—a city of emptiness, Every house has been shut from [its] entrance.

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

11 In out-places [is] a cry over the wine, All joy has been darkened, The joy of the land has been removed.

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 Desolation [is] left in the city, And the gate is struck [with] ruin.

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

13 When thus it is in the heart of the land, In the midst of the peoples, As the surrounding of the olive, As gleanings when harvest has been finished,

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 They lift up their voice, They sing of the excellence of YHWH, They have cried aloud from the sea.

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 Therefore honor YHWH in prosperity, In islands of the sea, the Name of YHWH, 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 From the skirt of the earth we heard songs, The desire of the righteous. And I say, “Leanness [is] to me, Leanness [is] to me, woe [is] to me.” Treacherous dealers dealt treacherously, Indeed, treachery, treacherous dealers dealt treacherously.

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 Fear, and a snare, and a trap, [Are] on you, O inhabitant of the earth.

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

18 And it has come to pass, He who is fleeing from the noise of the fear falls into the snare, And he who is coming up from the midst of the snare, Is captured by the trap, For windows have been opened on high, And foundations of the earth are shaken.

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 has been utterly broken down, The earth has been utterly broken, The earth has been utterly moved.

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

20 The earth staggers greatly as a drunkard, And it has been moved as a lodge, And its transgression has been heavy on it, And it has fallen, and does not add to rise.

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 And it has come to pass in that day, YHWH lays a charge on the host of the high place in the high place, And on the kings of the earth on the earth.

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

22 And they have been gathered—A gathering of bound ones in a pit, And they have been shut up in a prison, And after a multitude of days are inspected.

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 And the moon has been confounded, And the sun has been ashamed, For YHWH of Hosts has reigned In Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, And before His elderly—glory!

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.