Isaiah
The sentence
24
1 See how Yahweh breaks 1 the land and makes it crack,
1 how he turns it upside down
1 and scatters its inhabitants,
2 priest and people alike, 2 servant and master, maid and mistress;
2 buyer and seller, lender and borrower.
2 As it will be with the creditor,
2 so will it be with the debtor.
3 Cracked is the earth,
3 worn out is the world,
3 for Yahweh has spoken.
4 The earth mourns and withers,
4 the world pines and fades,
4 both heaven and earth languish.
5 The land lies polluted,
5 defiled by its inhabitants
5 who have transgressed the laws,
5 violated the ordinances,
5 and broken the covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the land
6 and its people burn for their guilt.
6 Few of its inhabitants are left.
6 ( 7 The new wine mourns,
7 the vine pines away,
7 all the revelers groan.
8 The merry timbrels are stilled,
8 the noise of the revelers is over,
8 the harps and lyres are silenced.
9 No more will they drink wine with a song;
9 strong drink tastes bitter to the drinker.
10 The city of confusion is broken down,
10 every door is closed; you cannot enter.
11 In the streets they cry for wine:
11 all joy is gone,
11 all cheer has left the land.
12 The city is left in distress,
12 its ruined market is deserted.)
13 Some remain where nations have been
13 as olives after the beating of the trees,
13 as grapes after the vintage.
14 They lift up their voices and shout for joy,
14 from the vast lands they acclaim Yahweh.
15 People give him glory from the western islands:
15 “Islands, sing to Yahweh, the God of Israel!”
16 From the remotest part of the earth
16 we hear songs of praise:
16 “Glory to the Righteous One.”
16 Yet I said: “Woe is me! Woe is me! there is but treachery and traitors!”
17 Not at all!
17 Terror, pit and snare
17 await you, inhabitants of the earth.
18 He who flees at the cry of terror
18 falls into the pit,
18 and he who climbs out of the pit
18 gets caught in the snare.
18 For the floodgates of heaven are opened
18 and the earth shakes to its foundation.
19 The earth is broken into fragments,
19 the earth is in convulsion.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
20 it sways like a hut in the storm,
20 weighed down by its transgression,
20 and it falls, never to rise again.
21 On that day Yahweh will punish
21 the host of the heavens above,
21 and the kings of the earth below.
22 They will be gathered together
22 as prisoners are gathered in the pit;
22 they will be shut up in a dungeon
22 and after a time, punished.
23 Then the moon will be confounded
23 and the sun ashamed,
23 when Yahweh Sabaoth reigns
23 on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
23 and lets his Glory be shown to his elders.