Isaiah 24:1-23
24 Look! Jehovah is emptying the land* and laying it waste,+ and he has twisted* the face of it+ and scattered its inhabitants.+
2 And it must come to be the same for the people as for the priest; the same for the servant as for his master;* the same for the maidservant as for her mistress; the same for the buyer as for the seller; the same for the lender as for the borrower; the same for the interest taker* as for the one paying the interest.*+
3 Without fail the land will be emptied, and without fail it will be plundered,+ for Jehovah himself has spoken this word.+
4 The land has gone to mourning,+ has faded away. The productive land* has withered, has faded away. The high ones of the people of the land have withered.+
5 And the very land has been polluted under its inhabitants,+ for they have bypassed the laws,+ changed the regulation,+ broken the indefinitely lasting covenant.+
6 That is why the curse itself has eaten up the land,+ and those inhabiting it are held guilty. That is why the inhabitants of the land have decreased in number, and very few mortal men have remained over.+
7 The new wine has gone to mourning, the vine has withered,+ all those glad at heart have gone to sighing.+
8 The exultation of the tambourines has ceased, the noise of the highly elated ones has discontinued, the exultation of the harp has ceased.+
9 It is with no song that they drink wine; the intoxicating liquor becomes bitter to those drinking it.
10 The deserted town has been broken down;+ every house has been shut up from entering.
11 There is an outcry in the streets for [want of] wine. All rejoicing has passed away;* the exultation of the land has departed.+
12 In the city an astonishing condition has been left behind; the gate has been crushed to a mere rubble heap.+
13 For thus it will become in the midst of the land, in among the peoples, like the beating off of the olive tree,+ like the gleaning when the grape gathering has come to an end.+
14 They themselves will raise their voice, they will cry out joyfully. In the superiority of Jehovah they will certainly cry out shrilly from the sea.*+
15 That is why in the region of light*+ they must glorify Jehovah,+ in the islands of the sea the name of Jehovah,+ the God* of Israel.
16 From the extremity* of the land there are melodies that we have heard:+ “Decoration to the Righteous One!”+
But I say: “For me there is leanness,+ for me there is leanness! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously.+ Even with treachery the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously.”+
17 Dread and the hollow and the trap are upon you, you inhabitant of the land.+
18 And it must occur that anyone fleeing from the sound of the dreaded thing will fall into the hollow, and anyone coming up from inside the hollow will be caught in the trap.+ For the very floodgates* on high will actually be opened,+ and the foundations of the land will rock.+
19 The land has absolutely burst apart, the land has absolutely been shaken up, the land has absolutely been sent staggering.+
20 The land absolutely moves unsteadily like a drunken man, and it has swayed to and fro like a lookout hut.+ And its transgression has become heavy upon it,+ and it must fall, so that it will not rise up again.+
21 And it must occur in that day that Jehovah will turn his attention upon the army of the height in the height, and upon the kings of the ground upon the ground.+
22 And they will certainly be gathered with a gathering as of prisoners into the pit,+ and be shut up in the dungeon;+ and after an abundance of days they will be given attention.+
23 And the full moon has become abashed, and the glowing [sun] has become ashamed,+ for Jehovah of armies has become king+ in Mount Zion+ and in Jerusalem and in front of his elderly men with glory.+
Footnotes
^ Or, “disconcerted.”
^ Or, “the earth.” Heb., ha·ʼaʹrets.
^ “As for his master.” Heb., kaʼ·dho·navʹ, pl. of ʼa·dhohnʹ, to denote excellence.
^ Or, “the creditor.”
^ Or, “the debtor; the loan taker.”
^ Lit., “has turned as evening; has become dark.”
^ Or, “west.”
^ Lit., “the lights.” Evidently, the eastern region or horizon.
^ “The God of.” Heb., ʼElo·hehʹ.
^ Lit., “wing.”
^ Or, “windows.”
