Isaiah 24
New King James Version Par ▾ 

Impending Judgment on the Earth

1Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste,
Distorts its surface
And scatters abroad its inhabitants.
2And it shall be:
As with the people, so with the priest;
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, 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 land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,
For the Lord has spoken this word.

4The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The haughty[a] people of the earth languish.
5The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are [b]desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
And few men are left.

7The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
8The mirth of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
9They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
11There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
12In the city desolation is left,
And the gate is stricken with destruction.
13When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,
It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,
Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

14They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the Lord
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
15Therefore glorify the Lord in the dawning light,
The name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
16From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous!”
But I said, [c]“I am ruined, ruined!
Woe to me!
The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

17Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be [d]caught in the snare;
For the windows from on high are open,
And the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19The earth is violently broken,
The earth is split open,
The earth is shaken exceedingly.
20The earth shall reel[e] 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.

21It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,
And on the earth the kings of the earth.
22They will be gathered together,
As prisoners are gathered in the [f]pit,
And will be shut up in the prison;
After many days they will be punished.
23Then the moon will be disgraced
And the sun ashamed;
For the Lord of hosts will reign
On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
And before His elders, gloriously.

Footnotes:

  1. Isaiah 24:4 proud
  2. Isaiah 24:6 Or held guilty
  3. Isaiah 24:16 Lit. Leanness to me, leanness to me
  4. Isaiah 24:18 Lit. taken
  5. Isaiah 24:20 stagger
  6. Isaiah 24:22 dungeon
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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