Isaiah 24:1-11

New King James Version

Impending Judgment on the Earth

24 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste,
Distorts its surface
And scatters abroad its inhabitants.
²And it shall be:
As with the people, so with the ^(A)priest;
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, so with her mistress;
^(B)As with the buyer, so with the seller;
As with the lender, so with the borrower;
As with the creditor, so with the debtor.
³The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,
For the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The ^(C)haughty^[a] people of the earth languish.
⁵^(D)The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have ^(E)transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the ^(F)everlasting covenant.
⁶Therefore ^(G)the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are ^[b]desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are ^(H)burned,
And few men are left.

⁷^(I)The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸The mirth ^(J)of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
⁹They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
¹¹There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.