Isaiah 24:1–26:19
24 Look! Yahweh is about to lay the earth waste
and is about to devastate it,
and he will twist her surface,
and he will scatter her inhabitants.
2 And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the female slave, 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 one to whom he lends.
3 The earth shall be utterly laid waste,
and it shall be utterly plundered,
for Yahweh has spoken this word.
4 The earth dries up, it withers;
the world languishes, it withers.
The elevated of the people of the earth languish,
5 and the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants.
For they have transgressed laws;
they have passed by statutes;a
they have broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and the inhabitants in it suffer for their guilt.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth burn,
and ⌊few men are left⌋.b
the vine languishes.
All the merry of heart sigh;
8 the joy of the tambourine has stopped.
The noise of the jubilant has ceased;
the joy of the lyre has stopped.
9 They do not drink wine with song;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of emptiness is broken;
every house is shut ⌊so that no one can enter⌋;c
11 there is an outcry over the wine in the streets.
All joy turns into ⌊darkness⌋;d
the joy of the earth disappears.
12 Desolation is left in the city;
the gate is crushed into a state of ruin.
13 For it shall be like this in the midst of the earth,
among the nations,
like the beating of an olive tree,
like gleanings when a grape harvest is at an end.
14 They lift up their voices;e they sing for joy;
they shout out from the west over the majesty of Yahweh.
15 Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east,
the name of Yahweh the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
16 We hear songs from the ⌊edge⌋f of the earth:
“Glory to the righteous one!”
But I say, “Ruin to me!
Ruin to me! Woe to me!
The treacherous ones deal treacherously,
and the treacherous ones deal treacherously with treachery!”
17 Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, inhabitantsg of the earth!
The one who flees from the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit,
and the one who goes up from ⌊inside the pit⌋h shall be caught in the snare,
for the windows from heaven are opened,
and the foundations of the earth tremble.
19 The earth is utterly broken;
the earth is torn asunder;
the earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth staggers to and fro like the drunkard,
and it sways like a hut,
and its transgression is heavy upon it,
and it falls and does not rise again.
21 And this shall happen on that day:
Yahweh will punish the host of heaven in heaven,
and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22 And they will be gathered in a gathering, like a prisoner ⌊in⌋i a pit.
And they will be shut ⌊in⌋j a prison and be punished ⌊after⌋k many days.
23 And the full moon will be ashamed
and the sun will be ashamed,
for Yahweh of hosts will rule on ⌊Mount Zion⌋l and in Jerusalem,
and before his elders in glory.
25 Yahweh, you are my God; I will exalt you.
I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,a
plansb ⌊of old⌋,c in faithfulness, trustworthiness.
2 For you have ⌊made⌋d the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin,
the palace of foreigners ⌊is no longer⌋e a city;
it will ⌊never⌋f be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
a city of ruthless nations, they will fear you.
4 For you have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge to the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm,
a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless was like a rainstorm against a wall,g
5 the noise of foreigners like heat in a dry land.
You subdued the heat with the shade of a cloud;
the song of the ruthless was silenced.
6 And on this mountain Yahweh of hosts will make for all peoples a ⌊rich feast⌋,h
a feast of aged wines, fat filled with marrow, filtered aged wine.
7 And on this mountain he will ⌊destroy⌋i the face of the shroud,
the shroud over all peoples,
and the woven covering over all nations.
8 He will ⌊destroy⌋j death forever,
and the Lord Yahweh will wipe off the tears from all faces,
and he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth,
for Yahweh has spoken.
9 And one will say, on that day,
“Look! This is our God! We have waited for him and he saved us!
This is Yahweh; we waited for him!
Let us be glad,
and let us rejoice in his salvation.”
10 For the hand of Yahweh will rest on this mountain,
and Moab shall be trampled down under him
as ⌊a heap of straw is trampled down⌋k in ⌊waters of⌋l a dung heap.
11 And itm will spread out its hands in the midst of it,
just as the swimmer spreads out to swim,
and its pride will be brought low with the movementn of its hands.
12 And he will throw down the fortification of the high point of your walls;
he will bring it low;
he will ⌊send it⌋o to the ground,
to the dust.
26 On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“⌊We have a strong city⌋;a
he sets up victory like walls and ramparts!b
2 Open the gates ⌊so that⌋c the righteous nation who keeps faithfulness may enter!
3 You will protect a firm inclination in peace,
in peace because he trusts in you.
for in Yah, Yahweh you have an everlasting rock.
5 For he has thrown down the inhabitants of the height,
he lays low the lofty city.
He lays it low to the ground;
he throws her to the dust.
the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.”
7 The way of the righteous is a straight path;
⌊you clear the level path of the righteous⌋.d
8 Surely we wait for you in the path of your judgments, Yahweh,
for your name and renown are the desire of the soul.
9 I desire you with all my soul in the night;
also I seek you with my spirit within me,
for when your judgments are ⌊upon⌋e the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 Though the wicked person is shown compassion, he does not learn righteousness;
he acts unjustly in the land of uprightness,
and he does not see the majesty of Yahweh.
11 Yahweh, though your hand reaches high, they do not see it.
Let them see, and let them be ashamed of the zeal of people.
Indeed, let the fire of your enemies consume them.
12 Yahweh, you will establish peace for us,
for you have done even all of our works for us.
13 Yahweh, our God, lords besides you ruled over us,
⌊but we praise your name alone⌋.f
dead spirits do not rise
because you have punished and destroyed them,
and you have destroyed all memory of them.
15 You have added to the nation, Yahweh.
You have added to the nation; you are honored.
You have extended all the ends of the land.
16 Yahweh, in distress they have visited you;
they poured out an ⌊incantation⌋;g
your discipline was on them.
17 Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes;
she cries in her labor pains.
So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.
18 We became pregnant, we writhed;
we gave birth to wind.
We cannot bring about deliverance on the earth,
and no inhabitants of the world are born.
19 Your dead shall live; ⌊their corpses⌋h shall rise.
Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust,
for your dew is ⌊celestial dew⌋,i
and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.j