Isaiah 24
1 Some day, Yahweh is going to destroy everything on the earth. He will devastate it and cause it to become a desert and scatter its people.
Lo, Jehovah is emptying the land, And is making it waste, And hath overturned [it on] its face, And hath scattered its inhabitants.
2 He will scatter everyone— priests and common people, servants and their masters, maids and their mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, people who owe money and people who are owed money.
And it hath been — as a people so a priest, As the servant so his master, As the maid-servant 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.
3 Nothing that is worth anything will be left on earth; everything valuable will be destroyed. [That will surely happen because] Yahweh has said it.
Utterly emptied is the land, and utterly spoiled, For Jehovah hath spoken this word:
4 [Everything on] the earth will dry up and die [DOU]; its important people will become weak and unimportant.
Mourned, faded hath the land, Languished, faded hath the world, Languished have they — the high place of the people of the land.
5 The earth has become unacceptable to Yahweh because the people who live on it have disobeyed his laws; they have rejected the agreement that he intended to last forever.
And the land hath been defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed laws, They have changed a statute, They have made void a covenant age-during.
6 Therefore, [Yahweh] will curse the earth; the people who live on it must be punished because of the sins that they have committed. They will be destroyed by fire, and [only a] few people will remain [alive].
Therefore a curse hath consumed the land, And the inhabitants in it are become desolate, Therefore consumed have been inhabitants of the land, And few men have been left.
7 The grapevines will wither, and there will be no [grapes to make] wine. All [the people] who were previously happy will then groan and mourn.
Mourned hath the new wine, languished the vine, Sighed have all the joyful of heart.
8 People will no longer play cheerful songs with tambourines, people will no longer play joyfully on their harps, and people will no longer shout noisily [during their celebrations].
Ceased hath the joy of tabrets, Ceased hath the noise of exulting ones, Ceased hath the joy of a harp.
9 People will no longer sing while they drink wine, and [all] their alcoholic drinks will taste bitter.
With a song they drink not wine, Bitter is strong drink to those drinking it.
10 [Towns and] cities will be desolate; every house will be locked to prevent thieves from entering.
It was broken down — a city of emptiness, Shut hath been every house from entrance.
11 [Mobs] will gather in the streets, wanting wine; no one on the earth will be happy [DOU] any more.
A cry over the wine [is] in out-places, Darkened hath been all joy, Removed hath been the joy of the land.
12 Cities will be ruined and [all] their gates will be battered/broken into pieces.
Left in the city [is] desolation, And [with] wasting is the gate smitten.
13 It will be like that all over the earth: [there will only be a few people still alive], like what happens when [workers] beat all the olives off a tree [and there are only a few left], [or] when they harvest the grapes and there are only a few left [on the vines].
When thus it is in the heart of the land, In the midst of the peoples, As the compassing of the olive, As gleanings when harvest hath been finished,
14 But [those who are left alive] will sing joyfully; people [in nations] to the west [of Israel] will declare that Yahweh is very great;
They — they lift up their voice, They sing of the excellency of Jehovah, They have cried aloud from the sea.
15 people in nations to the east [of Israel will also] praise Yahweh [MTY]; in countries across the sea, people will praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [worship].
Therefore in prosperity honour ye Jehovah, In isles of the sea, the name of Jehovah, God of Israel.
16 We will hear [people] in the most distant places on the earth singing praise to [Yahweh], the [truly] righteous one. But [now], I am [SYN] very sad. Weep for me, [because] I have become thin and weak. Terrible things are happening! Treacherous [people still] betray/deceive others everywhere [DOU].
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, Yea, treachery, treacherous dealers dealt treacherously.
17 You people all over the earth, you will be terrified, and you will fall into deep pits and traps/snares.
Fear, and a snare, and a gin, [Are] on thee, O inhabitant of the land.
18 Those who [try to] flee because they are terrified will fall into [deep] pits, and those who climb out of the pits will be caught by traps/snares. The sky will split open and torrents [SIM] [of rain will fall]; the foundations of the earth will shake.
And it hath come to pass, He who is fleeing from the noise of the fear Doth fall into the snare, And he who is coming up from the midst of the snare, Is captured by the gin, For windows on high have been opened, And shaken are foundations of the land.
19 The earth will split apart and be shattered; it will shake violently.
Utterly broken down hath been the land, Utterly broken hath been the land, Utterly moved hath been the land.
20 [It will be as though] the earth will stagger like [SIM] a drunk; it will shake like [SIM] a hut [shakes in a windstorm]. It will collapse and not [be able to] rise again, [because] the guilt of the people who rebel [against Yahweh] is very great.
Stagger greatly doth the land as a drunkard, And it hath been moved as a lodge, And heavy on it hath been its transgression, And it hath fallen, and addeth not to rise.
21 At that time, Yahweh will punish the [wicked] powerful beings in the skies and the wicked kings on the earth.
And it hath come to pass, in that day, Jehovah layeth a charge on the host of the high place in the high place, And on the kings of the land on the land.
22 They will [all] be gathered together and thrown into a dungeon/pit. They will be shut/locked in that dungeon/pit, and later they will be punished.
And they have been gathered — A gathering of bound ones in a pit, And shut up they have been in a prison, And after a multitude of days are inspected.
23 At that time the light of the moon and the sun will be lessened; [it will be as though] they are ashamed [in the presence of] Yahweh, because he, the Commander of the armies of angels, will rule gloriously (on Zion Hill/in Jerusalem), in the presence of the leaders [of his people].
And confounded hath been the moon, And ashamed hath been the sun, For reigned hath Jehovah of Hosts In mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, And over-against His elders — honour!
