24
XXIV
1Behold, Jehovah is about to make the land empty, and to make it waste;
Yea, he will turn it upside down, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the handmaid, so with her mistress;
As with the buyer, so with the seller;
As with the lender, so with the borrower;
As with the debtor, so with the creditor.
3The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled;
For Jehovah hath spoken this word.
4The land mourneth, it withereth;
The world languisheth, it withereth;
The high people of the land do languish.
5The land is even polluted under the inhabitants thereof;
For they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the decree;
They have broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore doth a curse devour the land,
And the inhabitants thereof suffer punishment.
Therefore the inhabitants of the land are burnt up;
And men are left few in number.
7The new wine mourneth; the vine languisheth;
And the merry-hearted do sigh.
8The mirth of tabrets ceaseth,
The noise of them that rejoice endeth,
The joy of the harp ceaseth.
9They shall not drink wine in the song;
Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10A desolate city is broken to pieces;
Every house is shut up, so that none can enter.
11There is a crying for wine in the streets,
All gladness hath vanished away;
The mirth of the land is gone.
12In the city is left devastation;
And the gate is battered down with a crash.
13For thus it shall be in the midst of the land, among the people,
As the shaking of an olive tree; as the gleaning when the harvest is finished.
14They shall lift up their voice, they shall shout for joy:
For the majesty of Jehovah they shall rejoice from the sea.
15Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the eastern regions,
Even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea.
16From the extremity of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous!
But I said: My leanness, my leanness, wo unto me! The plunders plunder; yea, the plunder the plunders plunder.
17The terror, and the pit, and the snare,
Are upon thee, O inhabitant of the land!
18And it shall be, that whoso fleeth from the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit;
And whoso cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare;
For the floodgates from on high are opened;
And the foundations of the earth tremble.
19The earth is utterly broken down,
The earth is shattered to pieces;
The earth is moved exceedingly.
20The earth verily reeleth like a drunkard,
And moveth to and fro like a hammock;
For her iniquity lieth heavy upon her;
And she shall fall, and rise no more.
21And it shall come to pass in that day,
That Jehovah shall punish on high the host that is on high;
And on earth the kings of the earth.
22And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered for the pit;
And shall be shut up in the prison:
And after many days shall they be visited.
23And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun shall be ashamed;
When Jehovah of hosts shall reign
On mount Zion, and in Jerusalem;
And before his ancients in glory.