Isaiah 24

¹Behold, the Lord will lay waste 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 laid waste and utterly despoiled;

for the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴The earth mourns and withers,

the world languishes and withers;

the heavens languish together with the earth.

⁵The earth lies polluted

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 timbrels 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 city of chaos 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 reached its eventide;

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 vintage 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, 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 pine away,

I pine away. Woe is me!

For the treacherous deal treacherously,

the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

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 rent asunder,

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 will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

and before his elders he will manifest his glory.