Isaiah 24:20
New International Version
The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.

New Living Translation
The earth staggers like a drunk. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.

English Standard Version
The 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.

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

King James Bible
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

New King James Version
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, And it will fall, and not rise again.

New American Standard Bible
The earth trembles like a heavy drinker And sways like a hut, For its wrongdoing is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

NASB 1995
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

NASB 1977
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

Legacy Standard Bible
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

Amplified Bible
The earth reels back and forth like a drunkard And sways like a shack; Its transgression lies heavily upon it, And it will fall and not rise again.

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

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.

American Standard Version
The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And staggering, the Earth shall stagger as a drunkard and shall shake like a hut, and its evil shall be severe upon it, and it shall fall and it shall not continue to exist

Brenton Septuagint Translation
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.

Contemporary English Version
It staggers and shakes like a drunkard or a hut in a windstorm. It is burdened down with sin; the earth will fall, never again to get up.

Douay-Rheims Bible
With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fell, and not rise again.

English Revised Version
The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro like a hut; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The earth will stumble like a drunk and sway like a shack in the wind. Its disobedience weighs heavy on it. It will fall and not get up again.

Good News Translation
The earth itself will stagger like a drunk, sway like a hut in a storm. The world is weighed down by its sins; it will collapse and never rise again.

International Standard Version
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies so heavy upon it, that it falls, never to rise again.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The earth reeleth to and fro like a drunken man, And swayeth to and fro as a lodge; And the transgression thereof is heavy upon it, And it shall fall, and not rise again.

Literal Standard Version
The earth staggers greatly as a drunkard, | And it has been moved as a lodge, | And its transgression has been heavy on it, | And it has fallen, and does not add to rise.

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

New American Bible
The earth will reel like a drunkard, sway like a hut; Its rebellion will weigh it down; it will fall, never to rise again.”

NET Bible
The earth will stagger around like a drunk; it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. Its sin will weigh it down, and it will fall and never get up again.

New Revised Standard Version
The earth staggers like a drunkard, it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.

New Heart English Bible
The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.

Webster's Bible Translation
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression of it shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

World English Bible
The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.

Young's Literal Translation
Stagger greatly doth the land as a drunkard, And it hath been moved as a lodge, And heavy on it hath been its transgression, And it hath fallen, and addeth not to rise.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Judgment on the Earth
19The earth is utterly broken apart, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken violently. 20The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again. 21In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.…

Cross References
Job 12:25
They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.

Psalm 107:27
They reeled and staggered like drunkards, and all their skill was useless.

Isaiah 1:28
But rebels and sinners will together be shattered, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

Isaiah 19:14
The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

Isaiah 24:1
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants--

Isaiah 28:7
These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

Isaiah 43:27
Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against Me.


Treasury of Scripture

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy on it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

reel

Isaiah 19:14
The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Isaiah 29:9
Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

Psalm 107:27
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.

removed

Isaiah 1:8
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Isaiah 38:12
Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

the transgression

Isaiah 5:7-30
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry…

Psalm 38:4
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

Lamentations 1:14
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

and it

Jeremiah 8:4
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?

Jeremiah 25:27
Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

Daniel 11:19
Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.

Jump to Previous
Cottage Crushing Disobedience Drink Drunkard Drunken Earth Fall Falleth Falls Forth Fro Greatly Guilt Heavy Hut Lodge Moved Moving Overcome Rebellion Reel Reeleth Reels Removed Rise Shaken Shaking Sin Stagger Sway Sways Tent Thereof Totters Transgression Uncertainly Weight Wind
Jump to Next
Cottage Crushing Disobedience Drink Drunkard Drunken Earth Fall Falleth Falls Forth Fro Greatly Guilt Heavy Hut Lodge Moved Moving Overcome Rebellion Reel Reeleth Reels Removed Rise Shaken Shaking Sin Stagger Sway Sways Tent Thereof Totters Transgression Uncertainly Weight Wind
Isaiah 24
1. The doleful judgments of God upon the land
13. A remnant shall joyfully praise him
16. God in his judgments shall advance his kingdom














(20) The earth shall reel to and fro . . .--The point of the first comparison is obvious. (Comp. the like illustration of a ship tossed by the waves in Psalm 107:27.) The second becomes clearer if we render hammock instead of cottage, a hanging mat, suspended from a tree, in which the keeper of the vineyard slept, moving with every breath of wind; the very type of instability. In the words that follow the prophet traces the destruction to its source. The physical catastrophe is not the result of merely physical causes. The earth totters under the weight of its iniquity, and falls (we must remember the Hebrew idea of the world as resting upon pillars, 1Samuel 2:8), never to rise again. In its vision of the last things the picture finds a parallel, though under different imagery, in 2Peter 3:10-13.

Verse 20. - The earth... shall be removed like a cottage; rather, sways to and fro like a hammock, Rosenmüller observes, "Alludit ad pensiles lectos, quos, metu ferrarum, in arboribus sibi parare solent, istis in terris, non custodes solum hortorum camporumve, sed et iter facientes." The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; i.e. the earth perishes on account of men's sins. It shall fall, and not rise again. The present earth is to disappear altogether, and to be superseded by "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The earth
אֶ֙רֶץ֙ (’e·reṣ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

staggers
נ֣וֹעַ (nō·w·a‘)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 5128: To quiver, wave, waver, tremble, totter

like a drunkard
כַּשִּׁכּ֔וֹר (kaš·šik·kō·wr)
Preposition-k, Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7910: Intoxicated, as a, state, a habit

and sways
וְהִֽתְנוֹדְדָ֖ה (wə·hiṯ·nō·wḏ·ḏāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 5110: To nod, waver, to wander, flee, disappear, to console, deplore, taunt

like a shack.
כַּמְּלוּנָ֑ה (kam·mə·lū·nāh)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4412: A hut, a hammock

Earth’s rebellion
פִּשְׁעָ֔הּ (piš·‘āh)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 6588: Transgression

weighs it down,
וְכָבַ֤ד (wə·ḵā·ḇaḏ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3513: To be heavy, weighty, or burdensome

and it falls,
וְנָפְלָ֖ה (wə·nā·p̄ə·lāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 5307: To fall, lie

never
וְלֹא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

to rise
קֽוּם׃ (qūm)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6965: To arise, stand up, stand

again.
תֹסִ֥יף (ṯō·sîp̄)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3254: To add, augment


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 24:20 The earth will stagger like a drunken (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 24:19
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