Isaiah 24
24
Isaiah’s Apocalypse
1 # 24:1 Isaiah 24–27 is known as Isaiah’s Apocalypse because it contains eschatological prophecies that are also found in the book of Revelation. Behold! The Lord Yahweh is about to devastate the earth # 24:1 Or “land.” This is the Hebrew word ’erets, used sixteen times in chapter 24. It can be translated “land,” “earth,” or “world.” The context would seem to describe a global judgment. Isaiah prophesied about eleven different nations in chapters 13–23, but here he described a judgment upon the whole world.
and make it desolate.
He will mar its surface and scatter the inhabitants.
2Everyone will experience the same fate—
priests and people, masters and slaves,
their maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers,
lenders and borrowers, rich and poor. # 24:2 Or “debtor and creditor.” See Rev. 6:15.
3The earth will be utterly devastated and ruined,
for the Lord Yahweh has spoken this word!
4The ground itself mourns # 24:4 The Hebrew homonym can mean the ground “mourns [over the sin of its inhabitants]” or “dries up [with drought].” This is a powerful play on words in the Hebrew. and withers;
the soil languishes over the sins of its people,
and the wealthy elite wither and languish.
5The people have polluted the earth beneath their feet
by disobeying laws, violating truth, # 24:5 Or “moving past statutes.” See Mal. 2:5–7.
and breaking the ancient, everlasting covenant. # 24:5 See Rom. 1:18–32.
6Therefore a curse devours the earth;
its people suffer under their guilt,
causing earth’s inhabitants to dwindle, # 24:6 Or “burn up.” The Hebrew homonym kharah can mean “to diminish” or “to burn.”
and their number is reduced to so few.
7The new wine dries up, the vine withers,
and all the party-goers groan with disappointment.
8The joyful mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
the jubilant noise of the revelers is ended,
and the happy sound of the harp falls silent.
9No more wine and song!
Hard liquor has become bitter to those who drink it.
10The city lies in chaos, and no one can enter.
11Riots break out because there is no wine.
The sun has set on their gladness and joy;
celebrations have disappeared from the earth.
12The city is left desolate with her gates battered down.
13As an olive tree is shaken clean of its olives
and a grapevine picked clean of its grapes,
so will be the fate of the nations.
The Song of the Remnant
14The remnant # 24:14 Or “They.” Verses 14–16 are some of the more difficult verses to translate in Isaiah due to a number of textual variants. lifts up its voice with a joyful shout.
From the west they praise the majesty of the Lord Yahweh,
15and in the east # 24:15 Or “in the lights [fires],” a possible metaphor for the sunrise (the east). they give glory to the Lord God!
The coastlands magnify the name of Yahweh,
the Lord God of Israel!
16From all over the world we hear their songs of praise—
songs of glory and beauty to the Righteous One!
But I said, “I feel I’m wasting away.
I’m doomed; I’m wasting away.”
With deception, deceivers deceive!
With treachery, the treacherous betray! # 24:16 These lines contain a notable wordplay, using five Hebrew words with the identical triliteral root, bgd.
17Terror, pit, and trap are waiting for you, inhabitants of the earth.
18The one who flees from the report of terror will fall into the pit.
And whoever crawls out of the pit will be caught by the trap.
Heaven’s floodgates opened and earth’s foundations trembled.
19The earth is breaking, breaking!
The earth is crumbling, crumbling!
The earth is tottering, tottering!
20The earth staggers like a drunkard,
as a hut sways in a storm.
Its sin lies heavy upon it; it falls to rise no more.
The Lord Almighty Will Reign
21In that day, the Lord Yahweh will punish heaven’s host # 24:21 In this context, heaven’s host becomes a figure of speech for dark powers that operate in rebellion to God. See Eph. 6:10–14; Col. 2:15.
and the kings of the earth.
22They will be gathered together
and locked up in a prison like prisoners in a pit,
and after many days, they will be punished. # 24:22 Or “they will be remembered.”
23Then the sun and moon will hang their heads in shame,
for Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, will reign! # 24:23 When God is unveiled in his glory-light, the sun and moon are nothing compared to him.
He will manifest his glory on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
before all her elders!
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Isaiah 24: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationIsaiah 24
24
The LORD will Punish the Earth
1The LORD is going to devastate the earth and leave it desolate. He will twist the earth's surface and scatter its people. 2Everyone will meet the same fate — the priests and the people, slaves and masters, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, rich and poor. 3The earth will lie shattered and ruined. The LORD has spoken and it will be done.
4The earth dries up and withers; the whole world grows weak; both earth and sky decay. 5The people have defiled the earth by breaking God's laws and by violating the covenant he made to last for ever. 6So God has pronounced a curse on the earth. Its people are paying for what they have done. Fewer and fewer remain alive. 7The grapevines wither, and wine is becoming scarce. Everyone who was once happy is now sad, 8and the joyful music of their harps and drums has ceased. 9There is no more happy singing over wine; no one enjoys its taste any more. 10In the city everything is in chaos, and people lock themselves in their houses for safety. 11People shout in the streets because there is no more wine. Happiness is gone for ever; it has been banished from the land. 12The city is in ruins, and its gates have been broken down. 13This is what will happen in every nation all over the world. It will be like the end of harvest, when the olives have been beaten off every tree and the last grapes picked from the vines.
14Those who survive will sing for joy. Those in the west will tell how great the LORD is, 15and those in the east will praise him. The people who live along the sea will praise the LORD, the God of Israel. 16From the most distant parts of the world we will hear songs in praise of Israel, the righteous nation.
But there is no hope for me! I am wasting away! Traitors continue to betray, and their treachery grows worse and worse. 17Listen to me, everyone! There are terrors, pits, and traps waiting for you. 18Anyone who tries to escape from the terror will fall into a pit, and anyone who escapes from the pit will be caught in a trap. Torrents of rain will pour from the sky, and earth's foundations will shake. 19The earth will crack and shatter and split open. 20The earth itself will stagger like a drunken man and sway like a hut in a storm. The world is weighed down by its sins; it will collapse and never rise again.
21A time is coming when the LORD will punish the powers above and the rulers of the earth. 22God will crowd kings together like prisoners in a pit. He will shut them in prison until the time of their punishment comes. 23The moon will grow dark, and the sun will no longer shine, for the LORD Almighty will be king. He will rule in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and the leaders of the people will see his glory.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.