24:1 Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.
24:2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the female servant like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.
24:3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.
24:4 The earth dries up and crumbles away, the mainland dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth dwindle.
24:5 The earth is also defiled ①by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant.
▷ ①Lit under
24:6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth decrease in number, and few people are left.
24:7 The new wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the joyful-hearted sigh.
24:8 The joy of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The joy of the harp ceases.
24:9 They do not drink wine with song;
Intoxicating drink is bitter to those who drink it.
24:10 The city of chaos is broken down;
Every house is shut up so that no one may enter.
24:11 There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All joy ①turns to gloom.
The joy of the earth is banished.
▷ ①Lit is darkened
24:12 Desolation is left in the city
And the gate is battered to ruins.
24:13 For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the ①shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
▷ ①Lit striking
24:14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the ①west concerning the majesty of the LORD.
▷ ①Lit sea
24:15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the ①east,
The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
In the ②coastlands of the sea.
▷ ①Lit region of light ②Or islands
24:16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “ ①I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
▷ ①Meaning uncertain
24:17 Terror and pit and snare
①Confront you, you inhabitant of the earth.
▷ ①Lit Are upon you
24:18 Then it will be that the one who flees the sound of terror will fall into the pit,
And the one who ①climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the windows ②above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
▷ ①Lit goes up from the midst of ②Lit from the height; i.e., heaven
24:19 The earth is broken apart,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
24:20 The earth trembles like a heavy drinker
And sways like a hut,
For its wrongdoing is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
24:21 So it will happen on that day,
That the LORD will punish the rebellious ①angels of ②heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.
▷ ①Lit host ②Lit the height in the height
24:22 They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the ①dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
▷ ①Lit pit
24:23 Then the moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame,
For the LORD of armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.