Impending Judgment on the Earth

24 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste,

Distorts its surface

And scatters abroad its inhabitants.

2 And it shall be:

As with the people, so with the apriest;

As with the servant, so with his master;

As with the maid, so with her mistress;

bAs with the buyer, so with the seller;

As with the lender, so with the borrower;

As with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,

For the Lord has spoken this word.

4 The earth mourns and fades away,

The world languishes and fades away;

The chaughty 1people of the earth languish.

5 dThe earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,

Because they have etransgressed the laws,

Changed the ordinance,

Broken the feverlasting covenant.

6 Therefore gthe curse has devoured the earth,

And those who dwell in it are 2desolate.

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are hburned,

And few men are left.

7 iThe new wine fails, the vine languishes,

All the merry-hearted sigh.

8 The mirth jof the tambourine ceases,

The noise of the jubilant ends,

The joy of the harp ceases.

9 They shall not drink wine with a song;

Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of confusion is broken down;

Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.

11 There is a cry for wine in the streets,

All joy is darkened,

The mirth of the land is gone.

12 In the city desolation is left,

And the gate is stricken with destruction.

13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,

kIt shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,

Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;

For the majesty of the Lord

They shall cry aloud from the sea.

15 Therefore lglorify the Lord in the dawning light,

mThe name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.

16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:

“Glory to the righteous!”

But I said, 3“I am ruined, ruined!

Woe to me!

nThe treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,

Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

17 oFear and the pit and the snare

Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.

18 And 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 4caught in the snare;

For pthe windows from on high are open,

And qthe foundations of the earth are shaken.

19 rThe earth is violently broken,

The earth is split open,

The earth is shaken exceedingly.

20 The earth shall sreel 5to 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.

21 It shall come to pass in that day

That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,

And on the earth tthe kings of the earth.

22 They will be gathered together,

As prisoners are gathered in the 6pit,

And will be shut up in the prison;

After many days they will be punished.

23 Then the umoon will be disgraced

And the sun ashamed;

For the Lord of hosts will vreign

On wMount Zion and in Jerusalem

And before His elders, gloriously.