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24 Look! Adonai is stripping
and destroying the land,
turning it upside down
and scattering its inhabitants —
cohen and commoner, slave and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
The land will be completely stripped,
completely plundered,
for Adonai has spoken this word.
The land fades and withers,
the world wilts and withers,
the exalted of the land languish.
The land lies defiled under its inhabitants;
because they have transgressed the teachings,
changed the law
and broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse is devouring the land,
and its inhabitants are punished for their guilt.
It is why those living there waste away,
and the people left are few.
The new wine fails, the vines wilt,
all the revelers sigh,
the happy sound of tambourines ceases,
the shouts of merrymakers are stilled,
the joy of the lyre ends.
They no longer sing as they drink their wine,
strong liquor tastes bitter to those drinking it.
10 The city of chaos is shattered,
every house closed up; no one can enter.
11 In the streets they are crying over the wine;
all joy has faded, cheer has left the land.
12 In the city, only desolation,
its gates are battered beyond repair.

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