Isaiah 24

1 Lo! Yahweh emptying the earth and laying it waste, —And he will overturn the face thereof, And scatter them who dwell therein.

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 shall be—As the people, so, the priest, As the servant, so his lord, As the maid, so, her mistress, —As the buyer, so, the seller, As the lender, so, the borrower, As the debtor, so! his creditor.

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 Emptied—emptied—shall be the earth yea pillaged—pillaged, —For, Yahweh, hath 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 Mourneth, fadeth, the earth Languisheth, fadeth, the world, —Languished have the lofty of the people of the earth.

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

5 Yea the earth itself is profaned under them who dwell therein, —For they have Set aside laws, Gone beyond statute, Broken an age-abiding 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 For this cause, a curse, hath devoured the earth, And punished are the dwellers therein, —For this cause, are burned the inhabitants of the earth, And the men left remaining—are few.

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 Mourneth the new wine. Withereth the vine, —Sighing are all the merryhearted:

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

8 Ceased hath the mirth of timbrels, Ended is the noise of the uproarious, —Ceased hath the mirth of the lyre:

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

9 With a song, they drink not wine, —Bitter is strong drink, to them who drink it:

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

10 Broken down is the city of desolation, —Shut up every house that it cannot be entered.

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

11 There is an outcry concerning wine in the streets, —Darkened is all joy, Departed the gladness of the 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 There is left in the city. desolation, —And to ruins, have been broken the gate.

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

13 When, thus, it shall be in the earth in the midst of the peoples, [There shall be] like the shaking of an olive-tree, like the going round to pick when closed is 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 They, shall lift up their voice—shall raise a tremulous note, —On account of the splendour of Yahweh, have they made a shrill cry, on the West;

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 For this cause, In the Regions of Light, give ye glory to Yahweh, —In the Coastlands of the Sea, unto the Name of Yahweh. 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 uttermost part of the earth, melodies, have we heard—Beauty, to the righteous one! But I had said—Ruin to me! Ruin to me! Woe to me! Traitors, have betrayed, Yea traitorously, have traitors betrayed!

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 Terror and pit and snare, —are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth!

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

18 So shall it be—He that fleeth from the sound of the terror! shall fall into the pit, And, he that getteth up out of the midst of the pit, shall be captured in the snare, —For, the windows on high, have opened, And shaken are the foundations of earth.

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 breaketh, breaketh, —The earth crasheth, crasheth, The earth tottereth, tottereth;

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

20 The earth staggereth—staggereth like a drunken man, And rocketh to and fro like a night-hut, —So shall be heavy upon her, her transgression, And she shall fall and not again 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 shall be in that day, That Yahweh will bring punishment Upon the host of the height in the height, —And upon the kings of the ground on the ground.

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

22 And they shall be swept together in a crowd, fettered for a pit, And shall be lowered into a dungeon, —And, after many days, shall they 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 Then shall blush the silvery moon, Then turn pale the glowing sun, —Because Yahweh of hosts hath become king In Mount Zion And in Jerusalem, And before his Elders in 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.