Isaiah 24

The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth

¹ See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth
and devastate it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter its inhabitants-

² it will be the same
for priest as for people,
for master as for servant,
for mistress as for maid,
for seller as for buyer,
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.

³ The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered.
The LORD has spoken this word.

⁴ The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers,
the exalted of the earth languish.

⁵ The earth is defiled by its people;
they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶ Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,
and very few are left.

⁷ The new wine dries up and the vine withers;
all the merrymakers groan.

⁸ The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the revelers has stopped,
the joyful harp is silent.

⁹ No longer do they drink wine with a song;
the beer is bitter to its drinkers.

¹⁰ The ruined city lies desolate;
the entrance to every house is barred.

¹¹ In the streets they cry out for wine;
all joy turns to gloom,
all gaiety is banished from the earth.

¹² The city is left in ruins,
its gate is battered to pieces.

¹³ So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

¹⁴ They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they acclaim the LORD’s majesty.

¹⁵ Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;
exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
in the islands of the sea.

¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!
Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!”

¹⁷ Terror and pit and snare await you,
O people of the earth.

¹⁸ Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.
The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.

¹⁹ The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is thoroughly shaken.

²⁰ The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it fallsónever to rise again.

²¹ In that day the LORD will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.

²² They will be herded together
like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished ^[a]after many days.

²³ The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders, gloriously.

Isaiah 25

Praise to the LORD

¹ O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.

² You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.

³ Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

⁴ You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall

⁵ and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

⁶ On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wineó
the best of meats and the finest of wines.

⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;

⁸ he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

¹⁰ The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain;
but Moab will be trampled under him
as straw is trampled down in the manure.

¹¹ They will spread out their hands in it,
as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim.
God will bring down their pride
despite the cleverness ^[b]of their hands.

¹² He will bring down your high fortified walls
and lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground,
to the very dust.