Isaiah 24

1 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.

Watch out! The Lord is going to destroy the earth, to make it totally devastated. He's going to rip up the surface of the earth and scatter its inhabitants.

2 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.

It will happen the same for everybody—whether people or priests, servants or their masters, maids or their mistresses, buyers or sellers, lenders or borrowers, creditors or debtors.

3 Nothing that is worth anything will be left on earth; everything valuable will be destroyed. [That will surely happen because] Yahweh has said it.

The earth will be completely laid waste and looted. This is what the Lord has said.

4 [Everything on] the earth will dry up and die [DOU]; its important people will become weak and unimportant.

The earth dries up and withers away; the world shrivels up and withers away, the high and mighty people shrivel up along with the earth.

5 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.

The earth is polluted by its people; they have flouted God's laws, violated his regulations, and broken the eternal agreement with him.

6 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].

That is why a curse is destroying the earth. The people suffer because of their guilt. The inhabitants of the earth are burned up and only a few survive.

7 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.

The new wine dries up, and the vine withers. All the people celebrating groan.

8 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].

The happy sound of tambourines is over; the noise of the party-goers has stopped; the delightful harp music has finished,

9 People will no longer sing while they drink wine, and [all] their alcoholic drinks will taste bitter.

People don't sing any more as they drink wine, and the beer tastes bitter.

10 [Towns and] cities will be desolate; every house will be locked to prevent thieves from entering.

The chaotic city is falling apart; every house is barred shut to keep others out.

11 [Mobs] will gather in the streets, wanting wine; no one on the earth will be happy [DOU] any more.

Crowds on the street are shouting, demanding to have wine. Joy turns into darkness. There's no happiness left on earth.

12 Cities will be ruined and [all] their gates will be battered/broken into pieces.

The city is in a horrible state of ruin; its gates have been broken down.

13 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].

This is the way it's going to be all throughout the earth among the nations—only a few olives are left after the tree is shaken, only a few grapes are left to be gleaned after the harvest.

14 But [those who are left alive] will sing joyfully; people [in nations] to the west [of Israel] will declare that Yahweh is very great;

These survivors shout aloud and sing for joy. From the west they praise the Lord's majesty.

15 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].

From the east they glorify the Lord; from the sea shores they praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

16 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].

We hear songs coming from the ends of the earth, singing, “Glory to the God who does right.” But I'm miserable, miserable. Pity me! Deceitful people go on betraying, again and again.

17 You people all over the earth, you will be terrified, and you will fall into deep pits and traps/snares.

Terrors and pit-traps and snares are waiting for you, people of the earth.

18 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.

Those who run away in terror will fall into a pit-trap, and those who escape from the pit-trap will be caught in a snare. Heaven's windows are opened; earth's foundations shake.

19 The earth will split apart and be shattered; it will shake violently.

The earth is completely broken up; the earth is ripped apart, the earth is violently shaken.

20 [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.

The earth staggers to and fro like a drunk, and sways this way and that like a shelter. The guilt of its rebelliousness weighs heavily on it, and it collapses—it won't rise again.

21 At that time, Yahweh will punish the [wicked] powerful beings in the skies and the wicked kings on the earth.

At that time the Lord will punish all the high heavenly beings and the kings of the earth.

22 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.

They will be brought together, prisoners in a pit. They will be imprisoned, and eventually they will be punished.

23 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].

The moon will be embarrassed and the sun will be ashamed, for the Lord Almighty will reign in glory on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem in the presence of its leaders.