THE EARTH JUDGED

24 Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare

and making it desolate.

He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

2 people and priest alike,

servant and master,

female servant and mistress,

buyer and seller,

lender and borrower,

creditor and debtor.

3 The earth will be stripped completely bare

and will be totally plundered,

for the Lord has spoken this message.c

4 The earth mourns and withers;

the world wastes away and withers;

the exalted people of the earth waste away.

5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,d

for they have transgressed teachings,

overstepped decrees,

and broken the permanent covenant.e

6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,f

and its inhabitants have become guilty;

the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,

and only a few survive.

7 The new wine mourns;g

the vine withers.

All the carousers now groan.

8 The joyful tambourinesh have ceased.

The noise of the jubilant has stopped.

The joyful lyre has ceased.

9 They no longer sing and drink wine;

beer is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of chaos is shattered;i

every house is closed to entry.j

11 In the streets they cryA for wine.

All joy grows dark;

earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.

12 Only desolation remains in the city;

its gate has collapsed in ruins.

13 For this is how it will be on earth

among the nations:

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.k

14 They raise their voices, they sing out;

they proclaim in the west

the majesty of the Lord.

15 Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!

In the coasts and islands of the west

honor the name of the Lord,

the God of Israel.

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs:

The Splendor of the Righteous One.l

But I said, “I waste away! I waste away!B

Woe is me.”

The treacherous act treacherously;

the treacherous deal very treacherously.m

17 Panic, pit, and trap await youn

who dwell on the earth.o

18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic

will fall into a pit,

and whoever escapes from the pit

will be caught in a trap.

For the floodgates on high are opened,a

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.b

19 The earth is completely devastated;

the earth is split open;

the earth is violently shaken.

20 The earth staggers like a drunkardc

and sways like a hut.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

21 On that dayd the Lord will punish

the army of the heights in the heights

and the kings of the ground on the ground.

22 They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.e

They will be confined to a dungeon;f

after many days they will be punished.

23 The moon will be put to shame

and the sun disgraced,

because the Lord of Armies will reign as king

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,

and he will display his glory

in the presence of his elders.g