24
God’s Judgment on the Earth
1 Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth
and leaves it in ruins.
He will twist its surface
and scatter its inhabitants—
2 people and priest alike, servant and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be utterly laid waste
and thoroughly plundered.
For the LORD has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and fades;
the exalted of the earth waste away.
5 The earth is defiled by its people;
they have transgressed the laws;
they have overstepped the decrees
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;
the earth’s dwellers have been burned,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine dries up, the vine withers.
All the merrymakers now groan.
8 The joyful tambourines have ceased;
the noise of revelers has stopped;
the joyful harp is silent.
9 They no longer sing and drink wine;
strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.
10 The city of chaos is shattered;
every house is closed to entry.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine.
All joy turns to gloom;
rejoicing is exiled from the land.
12 The city is left in ruins;
its gate is reduced to rubble.
13 So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.
15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.
Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel
in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!
Woe is me.”
The treacherous betray;
the treacherous deal in treachery.
17 Terror and pit and snare await you,
O dweller of the earth.
18 Whoever flees the sound of panic
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs from the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are open,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
19 The earth is utterly broken apart,
the earth is split open,
the earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard
and sways like a shack.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.
21 In that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven above
and the kings of the earth below.
22 They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.
They will be confined to a dungeon
and punished after many days.
23 The moon will be confounded
and the sun will be ashamed;
for the LORD of Hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before His elders with great glory.