Esias 24

1 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.

Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—

2 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.

people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

3 The earth shall be completely laid waste, and the earth shall be utterly spoiled: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.

The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered.

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

The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.

5 And she has sinned by reason of her inhabitants; because they have transgressed the law, and changed the ordinances, [even] the everlasting covenant.

The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.

6 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.

Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.

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

The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.

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

The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.

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

They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.

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

The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.

11 There is a howling for the wine everywhere; all the mirth of the land has ceased, all the mirth of the land has departed.

In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.

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

The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.

13 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,

So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

14 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.

They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.

15 Therefore shall the glory of the Lord be in the isles of the sea; the name of the Lord shall be glorious.

Therefore glorify the LORD in the east. Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea.

16 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.

From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery.

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

Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.

18 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,

Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

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

The earth is utterly broken apart, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken violently.

20 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.

The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.

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

In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.

22 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.

They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.

23 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.

The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.