Judgment on the Earth

      1Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. 4The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

      7The new wine mourns,
            The vine decays,
            All the merry-hearted sigh.

      8The gaiety of tambourines ceases,
            The noise of revelers stops,
            The gaiety of the harp ceases.

      9They do not drink wine with song;
            Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

      10The city of chaos is broken down;
            Every house is shut up so that none may enter.

      11There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
            All joy turns to gloom.
            The gaiety of the earth is banished.

      12Desolation is left in the city
            And the gate is battered to ruins.

      13For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
            As the shaking of an olive tree,
            As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.

      14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
            They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

      15Therefore glorify the LORD in the east,
            The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
            In the coastlands of the sea.

      16From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”
            But I say, “Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!
            The treacherous deal treacherously,
            And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

      17Terror and pit and snare
            Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

      18Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit,
            And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
            For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

      19The earth is broken asunder,
            The earth is split through,
            The earth is shaken violently.

      20The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
            And it totters like a shack,
            For its transgression is heavy upon it,
            And it will fall, never to rise again.

      21So it will happen in that day,
            That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high,
            And the kings of the earth on earth.

      22They will be gathered together
            Like prisoners in the dungeon,
            And will be confined in prison;
            And after many days they will be punished.

      23Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
            For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
            And His glory will be before His elders.