God’s Judgment on the Earth

1Behold, the Lord will lay waste to the earth, and he will strip it, and he will afflict its surface, and he will scatter its inhabitants. 2And this shall be: as with the people, so with the priest; and as with the servant, so with his master; as with the handmaid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. 3The earth will be utterly devastated and utterly plundered. For the Lord has spoken this word. 4The earth mourned, and slipped away, and languished. The world slipped away; the loftiness of the people of the earth was weakened. 5And the earth was corrupted by its inhabitants. For they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have dissipated the everlasting covenant. 6Because of this, a curse will devour the earth, and its inhabitants will sin. And for this reason, its caretakers will become crazed, and few men will be left behind.

7The vintage has mourned. The vine has languished. All those who were rejoicing in their hearts have groaned.

8The gladness of the drums has ceased. The sound of rejoicing has quieted. The sweetness of stringed instruments has been silenced.

9They will not drink wine with a song. The drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

10The city of vanity has been worn away. Every house has been closed up; no one enters.

11There will be a clamor for wine in the streets. All rejoicing has been abandoned. The gladness of the earth has been carried away.

12Solitude is what remains in the city, and calamity will overwhelm its gates.

13For so shall it be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people: it is as if the few remaining olives are being shaken from the olive tree, and it is like a few clusters of grapes, when the grape harvest has already ended.

14These few shall lift up their voice and give praise. When the Lord will have been glorified, they will make a joyful noise from the sea.

15Because of this, glorify the Lord in doctrine: the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.

16From the ends of the earth, we have heard the praises of the glory of the Just One. And I said: “My secret is for myself! My secret is for myself! Woe to me! Those who would betray us have betrayed us, and they have betrayed us with the betrayal of transgression.”

17Dread, and the pit, and the snare are over you, O inhabitant of the earth!

18And this shall be: whoever will flee from the voice of dread will fall into the pit. And whoever will extricate himself from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the floodgates from above have been opened, and the foundations of the earth will be shaken.

19The earth will be utterly broken! The earth will be utterly crushed! The earth will be utterly shaken!

20The earth will stagger greatly, like a drunken man, and will be carried away, like the tent of a single night. And its iniquity will be heavy upon it, and it will fall and not rise up again.

21And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will visit upon the armies of the sky above, and upon the kings of the earth who are on the ground.

22And they will be gathered together like the gathering of one bundle into a pit. And they will be enclosed in that place, as in a prison. And after many days, they will be visited.

23And the moon will be ashamed, and the sun will be confounded, when the Lord of hosts will reign on mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and when he will have been glorified in the sight of his elders.