Judgment on the Earth

1Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. 2And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the female servant like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word. 4The earth dries up and crumbles away, the mainland dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth dwindle. 5The earth is also defiled [a]by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant. 6Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth decrease in number, and few people are left.

7The new wine mourns,

The vine decays,

All the joyful-hearted sigh.

8The joy of tambourines ceases,

The noise of revelers stops,

The joy of the harp ceases.

9They do not drink wine with song;

Intoxicating drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10The city of chaos is broken down;

Every house is shut up so that no one may enter.

11There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;

All joy [b]turns to gloom.

The joy of the earth is banished.

12Desolation is left in the city

And the gate is battered to ruins.

13For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,

As the [c]shaking of an olive tree,

As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

They cry out from the [d]west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

15Therefore glorify the LORD in the [e]east,

The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,

In the [f]coastlands of the sea.

16From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the Righteous One,”

But I say, “[g]I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me!

The treacherous deal treacherously,

And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

17Terror and pit and snare

[h]Confront you, you inhabitant of the earth.

18Then it will be that the one who flees the sound of terror will fall into the pit,

And the one who [i]climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;

For the windows [j]above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

19The earth is broken apart,

The earth is split through,

The earth is shaken violently.

20The 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.

21So it will happen on that day,

That the LORD will punish the rebellious [k]angels of [l]heaven on high,

And the kings of the earth on earth.

22They will be gathered together

Like prisoners in the [m]dungeon,

And will be confined in prison;

And after many days they will be punished.

23Then the moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame,

For the LORD of armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

And His glory will be before His elders.