Isaiah 24

1Look! The LORD is about to strip the earth bare and lay it waste; he will wrench its face out of shape and scatter the people who live on it. 2It will go the same for people and priest, for servant and master, for maid and mistress, for buyer and seller, for lender and borrower, for the one who collects a debt and the one who owes it. 3The earth will be stripped completely bare and looted through and through, for this is the word the LORD has spoken. 4The earth dries up and wilts; the world shrivels and wilts; the proudest of the earth’s people waste away. 5The earth lies polluted beneath the people who live on it, for they have stepped over the instructions, brushed past the decree, and broken the covenant that was to last forever. 6That is why a curse eats away the earth, and those who live on it pay for their guilt. That is why the earth’s inhabitants are scorched away, and only a handful of human beings remain. 7The new wine fails, the vine droops, and all whose hearts were merry now groan. 8The merry beat of the tambourines is over, the din of the revelers has stopped, the gladness of the lyre is over. 9They no longer drink their wine to the sound of song; beer turns bitter in the drinker’s mouth. 10The town of chaos is smashed; every house is shut, and no one can get in. 11In the streets there is crying out over the wine; all gladness has darkened into evening; the joy of the earth has been carried off into exile. 12Only desolation is left in the city, and the gate is smashed to rubble. 13For this is how it will be in the heart of the earth, among the peoples: like an olive tree after it has been beaten, like the last grapes picked once the harvest is over. 14These raise their voices and ring out with joy; from the west they shout aloud at the majesty of the LORD. 15So honor the LORD in the lands of the dawn; in the coastlands of the sea, honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

16From the edge of the earth we have heard songs: “Splendor belongs to the righteous one!” But I said, “I am wasting away, wasting away! Woe to me! The faithless keep breaking faith; with faithless deeds the faithless break faith.” 17Fear and the pit and the trap are upon you who live on the earth! 18Anyone who runs from the sound of fear will drop into the pit, and anyone who climbs up out of the pit will be caught in the trap. For the windows on high have been thrown open, and the foundations of the earth quake. 19The earth is shattered to pieces; the earth is torn right through; the earth reels and shudders. 20The earth will lurch to and fro like a drunk; it will rock like a watchman’s shelter. Its rebellion will weigh it down; it will fall and not get up again.

21On that day the LORD will call to account the army of the heights up on high and the kings of the earth down on the earth. 22They will be rounded up as prisoners are, into a pit, and locked away in a prison; after many days they will be brought to judgment. 23The moon will blush and the sun will hang its head, for the LORD of Armies will reign as king on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders there will be glory.