Isaiah 24

Judgment on the Whole Earth

¹Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

²And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, so with her mistress;

as with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

³The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

for the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴The earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and withers;

the highest people of the earth languish.

⁵The earth lies defiled

under its inhabitants;

for they have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore a curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left.

⁷The wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

⁸The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

⁹No more do they drink wine with singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰The wasted city is broken down;

every house is shut up so that none can enter.

¹¹There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

all joy has grown dark;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

¹²Desolation is left in the city;

the gates are battered into ruins.

¹³For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.

¹⁵Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to the Righteous One.

But I say, “I waste away,

I waste away. Woe is me!

For the traitors have betrayed,

with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

¹⁷Terror and the pit and the snare

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

¹⁸He who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are opened,

and the foundations of the earth tremble.

¹⁹The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is split apart,

the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunken man;

it sways like a hut;

its transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

²¹On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and the kings of the earth, on the earth.

²²They will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days they will be punished.

²³Then the moon will be confounded

and the sun ashamed,

for the Lord of hosts reigns

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders.