Isaiah 24
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.
2 And 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.
3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,
For the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The 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.
6 Therefore (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.
8 The mirth (J)of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
11 There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city desolation is left,
And the gate is stricken with destruction.
13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,
(K)It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,
Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the Lord
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
15 Therefore (L)glorify the Lord in the dawning light,
(M)The name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous!”
But I said, [c]“I am ruined, ruined!
Woe to me!
(N)The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”
17 (O)Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be [d]caught in the snare;
For (P)the windows from on high are open,
And (Q)the foundations of the earth are shaken.
19 (R)The earth is violently broken,
The earth is split open,
The earth is shaken exceedingly.
20 The earth shall (S)reel[e] to and fro like a drunkard,
And shall totter like a hut;
Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,
And it will fall, and not rise again.
21 It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,
And on the earth (T)the kings of the earth.
22 They will be gathered together,
As prisoners are gathered in the [f]pit,
And will be shut up in the prison;
After many days they will be punished.
23 Then the (U)moon will be disgraced
And the sun ashamed;
For the Lord of hosts will (V)reign
On (W)Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
And before His elders, gloriously.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 24:4 proud
- Isaiah 24:6 Or held guilty
- Isaiah 24:16 Lit. Leanness to me, leanness to me
- Isaiah 24:18 Lit. taken
- Isaiah 24:20 stagger
- Isaiah 24:22 dungeon
Isaiah 24
Easy-to-Read Version
God Will Punish Israel
24 Look, the Lord is destroying this land.[a] He will clean out the land completely and force all the people to go far away. 2 At that time whatever happens to the common people will also happen to the priests. Slaves and masters will be the same. Women slaves and their women masters will be the same. Buyers and sellers will be the same. Those who borrow and those who lend will be the same. Bankers and those who owe the bank will be the same. 3 Everyone will be forced out of the land. All the wealth will be taken. This will happen because the Lord commanded it. 4 The country will be empty and sad. The world will be empty and weak. The great leaders of the people in this land will become weak.
5 The people have ruined the land. They did what God said was wrong. They did not obey God’s laws. They made an agreement with God a long time ago, but they broke their agreement with God. 6 The people living in this land are guilty of doing wrong, so God promised to destroy the land. The people will be punished, and only a few of them will survive.
7 The grapevines are dying. The new wine is bad. People who were happy are now sad. 8 They have stopped showing their joy. The happy music from the drums and harps has ended. 9 They no longer sing as they drink their wine. The beer now tastes bitter to those who drink it.
10 “Total Confusion” is a good name for this city. The city has been destroyed. People cannot enter the houses. The doors are blocked. 11 People still ask for wine in the marketplaces, but all the joy is gone. It was carried off with everything else. 12 All that is left is destruction. Even the gates are crushed.
13 At harvest time, people knock olives from the trees.
But a few olives are left in the trees.
It will be like that in this land and among the nations.
14 Those who are left will begin shouting louder than the ocean.
They will rejoice about the Lord’s greatness.
15 They will say, “People in the east, praise the Lord!
People in faraway lands,
praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.”
16 We hear songs of praise for God from every place on earth.
They praise the God who does what is right.
But I say, “Enough!
I have had enough.
What I see is terrible.
Traitors are turning against people and hurting them.”
17 I see troubles for you people living in this land.
I see fear, pits, and problems all around.
18 People will hear about the danger,
and they will be afraid.
Some of them will run away,
but they will fall into holes and be trapped.
Some of them will climb out of the holes,
but they will be caught in another trap.
The floodgates in the sky above will open,
and the floods will begin.
The foundations of the earth will shake.
19 There will be earthquakes,
and the earth will split open.
20 The sins of the world are very heavy,
so the earth will fall under the weight.
It will shake like an old house.
It will fall like a drunk.
It will not be able to stand.
21 At that time the Lord will judge
the heavenly armies in heaven
and the earthly kings on earth.
22 Many people will be gathered together.
They have been locked in the Pit.
They have been in prison.[b]
But finally, after a long time, they will be judged.
23 The Lord will rule as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
His Glory will be shown to the city leaders with such brightness that
the moon will be embarrassed
and the sun will be ashamed.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 24:1 land Or “earth.”
- Isaiah 24:22 Pit … prison This is probably “Sheol,” the grave.
Isaiah 24
New Living Translation
Destruction of the Earth
24 Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth
and make it a vast wasteland.
He devastates the surface of the earth
and scatters the people.
2 Priests and laypeople,
servants and masters,
maids and mistresses,
buyers and sellers,
lenders and borrowers,
bankers and debtors—none will be spared.
3 The earth will be completely emptied and looted.
The Lord has spoken!
4 The earth mourns and dries up,
and the land wastes away and withers.
Even the greatest people on earth waste away.
5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people,
for they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his laws,
and broken his everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.
Its people must pay the price for their sin.
They are destroyed by fire,
and only a few are left alive.
7 The grapevines waste away,
and there is no new wine.
All the merrymakers sigh and mourn.
8 The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
the happy cries of celebration are heard no more.
The melodious chords of the harp are silent.
9 Gone are the joys of wine and song;
alcoholic drink turns bitter in the mouth.
10 The city writhes in chaos;
every home is locked to keep out intruders.
11 Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine.
Joy has turned to gloom.
Gladness has been banished from the land.
12 The city is left in ruins,
its gates battered down.
13 Throughout the earth the story is the same—
only a remnant is left,
like the stray olives left on the tree
or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.
14 But all who are left shout and sing for joy.
Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.
15 In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord.
In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth,
songs that give glory to the Righteous One!
But my heart is heavy with grief.
Weep for me, for I wither away.
Deceit still prevails,
and treachery is everywhere.
17 Terror and traps and snares will be your lot,
you people of the earth.
18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap,
and those who escape the trap will be caught in a snare.
Destruction falls like rain from the heavens;
the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth has broken up.
It has utterly collapsed;
it is violently shaken.
20 The earth staggers like a drunk.
It trembles like a tent in a storm.
It falls and will not rise again,
for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.
21 In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens
and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.
22 They will be rounded up and put in prison.
They will be shut up in prison
and will finally be punished.
23 Then the glory of the moon will wane,
and the brightness of the sun will fade,
for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion.
He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem,
in the sight of all the leaders of his people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
