Isaiah 24

Chapter 24

¹Behold, Jehovah maketh the land empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth 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 taker of usury, so with him from whom usury is taken. ³The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for Jehovah hath spoken this word. ⁴The land mourneth, it fadeth away; the world languisheth, it fadeth away: the haughty people of the land do languish. ⁵And the land is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; for they have violated the laws, changed the statute, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore doth the curse devour the earth, and they that dwell therein are held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are consumed, and few men are left. ⁷The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all that were merry-hearted do sigh; ⁸the mirth of tambours ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. ⁹They do not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to them that drink it. ¹⁰The city of solitude is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none entereth in. ¹¹There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone; ¹²desolation remaineth in the city, and the gate is smitten, —a ruin.

¹³For so will it be in the midst of the land among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the grape-gleanings when the vintage is done. ¹⁴These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea. ¹⁵Therefore glorify Jehovah in the east, the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the west.

¹⁶From the end of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous! And I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously. ¹⁷Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, inhabitant of the land. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the sound of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are open, and the foundations of the earth shake. ¹⁹The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is completely dissolved, the earth is violently moved. ²⁰The earth reeleth to and fro like a drunkard, and is shaken like a night hut; and its transgression is heavy upon it; and it falleth and shall not rise again. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. ²²And they shall be brought together, as an assemblage of prisoners for the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days shall they be visited. ²³And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Jehovah of hosts shall reign on mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients in glory.