Isaiah 24
1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth emptie, and hee maketh it waste: hee turneth it vpside downe, and scattereth abrode the inhabitants thereof.
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.
2 And there shalbe like people, like Priest, and like seruaunt, like master, like maide, like mistresse, like bier, like seller, like lender, like borower, like giuer, like taker to vsurie.
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.
3 The earth shalbe cleane emptied, and vtterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this worde.
Nothing that is worth anything will be left on earth; everything valuable will be destroyed. [That will surely happen because] Yahweh has said it.
4 The earth lamenteth and fadeth away: the world is feeble and decaied: the proude people of the earth are weakened.
[Everything on] the earth will dry up and die [DOU]; its important people will become weak and unimportant.
5 The earth also deceiueth, because of the inhabitantes thereof: for they transgressed the lawes: they changed the ordinances, and brake the euerlasting couenant.
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.
6 Therefore hath the curse deuoured the earth, and the inhabitantes thereof are desolate. Wherefore the inhabitants of the land are burned vp, and fewe men are left.
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].
7 The wine faileth, the vine hath no might: all that were of merie heart, doe mourne.
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.
8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth: the noyse of them that reioyce, endeth: the ioye of the harpe ceaseth.
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].
9 They shall not drinke wine with mirth: strong drinke shall be bitter to them that drinke it.
People will no longer sing while they drink wine, and [all] their alcoholic drinks will taste bitter.
10 The citie of vanitie is broken downe: euery house is shut vp, that no man may come in.
[Towns and] cities will be desolate; every house will be locked to prevent thieves from entering.
11 There is a crying for wine in the streetes: al ioy is darkened: the mirth of the world is gone away.
[Mobs] will gather in the streets, wanting wine; no one on the earth will be happy [DOU] any more.
12 In the citie is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Cities will be ruined and [all] their gates will be battered/broken into pieces.
13 Surely thus shall it bee in the middes of the earth, among the people, as the shaking of an oliue tree, and as the grapes when the vintage is ended.
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].
14 They shall lift vp their voyce: they shall shout for the magnificence of the Lord: they shall reioyce from the sea.
But [those who are left alive] will sing joyfully; people [in nations] to the west [of Israel] will declare that Yahweh is very great;
15 Wherefore praise yee the Lord in the valleis, euen the Name of the Lord God of Israel, in the yles of the sea.
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].
16 From the vttermost part of the earth wee haue heard praises, euen glory to the iust, and I sayd, My leanesse, my leanesse, woe is mee: the transgressours haue offended: yea, the transgressours haue grieuously offended.
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].
17 Feare, and the pitte, and the snare are vpon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
You people all over the earth, you will be terrified, and you will fall into deep pits and traps/snares.
18 And hee that fleeth from the noyse of the feare, shall fall into the pit: and he that commeth vp out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the windowes from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth doe shake.
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.
19 The earth is vtterly broken downe: the earth is cleane dissolued: the earth is mooued exceedingly.
The earth will split apart and be shattered; it will shake violently.
20 The earth shall reele to and from like a drunken man, and shall be remooued like a tent, and the iniquitie thereof shall be heauie vpon it: so that it shall fall, and rise no more.
[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.
21 And in that day shall the Lord visite the hoste aboue that is on hie, euen the Kinges of the world that are vpon the earth.
At that time, Yahweh will punish the [wicked] powerful beings in the skies and the wicked kings on the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as the prisoners in the pit: and they shall be shut vp in the prison, and after many daies shall they be visited.
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.
23 Then the moone shall be abashed, and the sunne ashamed, when the Lord of hostes shall reigne in mount Zion and in Ierusalem: and glory shalbe before his ancient men.
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].
