Isaiah 24:1-12
New Catholic Bible
Apocalypse of Isaiah[a]
Chapter 24
Universal Judgment: A Grateful Remnant
1 Behold how the Lord is preparing
to lay waste the earth;
he will turn it into a desert
and scatter its inhabitants,
2 with the same fate afflicting both priest and people,
slave and master,
maid and mistress,
seller and buyer,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be totally ravaged
and completely despoiled;
this has the Lord decreed.
4 The earth mourns and fades away;
the world languishes and withers;
the exalted of the earth are brought low.
5 The earth is defiled
by those who dwell in it;
for they have transgressed laws,
violated statutes,
and broken the everlasting covenant.[b]
6 Therefore, a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants pay the penalty of their guilt;
as a result, the number of its inhabitants dwindles,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine dries up
and the vine withers away
as the revelers groan in their sorrow.
8 The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
the shouts of the revelers fade away;
the lyre’s joyful melodies are no longer heard.
9 The people drink wine but without any singing;
strong liquor tastes bitter to those who consume it.
10 The city is shattered and in a state of chaos;
every house has its entrance barred.[c]
11 In the streets the people cry out for wine;
no joy can be observed;
happiness seems to have been banished from the land.
12 Only desolation remains in the city;
its gates have been smashed so badly
that they are beyond hope of repair.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 24:1 It was probably a political disaster that inspired this striking picture, which celebrates the coming of a new world as predicted by Isaiah and later by Ezekiel. The inspired prophet sees the final judgment of the universe coming. He announces the reign of God who is victorious over all hostile forces on earth and in heaven. The city of God, which is promised a glorious future, arises before our eyes on the ruins of the city of evil. This kind of transposition of events in prophecies of judgment, this kind of intermingling of cataclysm and renewal, is characteristic of the literary genre known as apocalypse, that is, revelation of the hidden destiny of the world, with images of terror and light providing a key to understanding it.
- Isaiah 24:5 Everlasting covenant: the covenant entered into with the entire human race in the person of Noah (Gen 9:16).
- Isaiah 24:10 A city in complete disorder and symbolically contrasted with the city of God.
