Isaiah 24
24
The Earth Will Be Punished
1The Lord is going to twist the earth out of shape and turn it into a desert. Everyone will be scattered, 2including ordinary people and priests, slaves and slave owners, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, the rich and the poor. 3The earth will be stripped bare and left that way. This is what the Lord has promised.
4The earth wilts away;
its mighty leaders melt
to nothing.#24.4 its … to nothing: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5The earth is polluted
because its people
disobeyed the laws of God,
breaking their agreement
that was to last forever.
6The earth is under a curse;
its people are dying out
because of their sins.
7Grapevines have dried up:
wine is almost gone—
mournful sounds are heard
instead of joyful shouts.
8No one plays tambourines
or stringed instruments;
all noisy celebrating
has come to an end.
9They no longer sing
as they drink their wine,
and it tastes sour.
10Towns are crushed and in chaos;
houses are locked tight.
11Happy times have disappeared
from the earth,
and people shout in the streets,
“We're out of wine!”
12Cities are destroyed;
their gates are torn down.
13Nations will be stripped bare,
like olive trees or vineyards
after the harvest season.
Praise the God of Justice
14People in the west shout;
they joyfully praise
the majesty of the Lord.
15And so, everyone in the east
and those on the islands
should praise the Lord,
the God of Israel.
16From all over the world
songs of praise are heard
for the God of justice.#24.16 God of justice: Or “people who do right.”
But I feel awful,
terribly miserable.
Can anyone be trusted?
So many are treacherous!
There's No Escape
17Terror, traps, and pits
are waiting for everyone.
18If you are terrified and run,
you will fall into a pit;
if you crawl out of the pit,
you will get caught in a trap.
The sky has split apart
like a window thrown open.
The foundations of the earth
have been shaken;
19the earth is shattered,
ripped to pieces.
20It staggers and shakes
like a drunkard
or a hut in a windstorm.
It is burdened down with sin;
the earth will fall,
never again to get up.
21On that day the Lord
will punish the powers
in the heavens#24.21 the powers in the heavens: In ancient times the stars were thought of as powerful spiritual beings, and sometimes they stood for pagan gods.
and the kings of the earth.
22He will put them in a pit
and keep them prisoner.
Then later on,
he will punish them.
23Both the moon and sun will
be embarrassed and ashamed.
The Lord All-Powerful will rule
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
where he will show its rulers
his wonderful glory.
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Isaiah 24: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 24
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.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.