Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth

1Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth

and leaves it in ruins.

He will twist its surface

and scatter its inhabitants—

2people and priest alike, servant and master,

maid and mistress, buyer and seller,

lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

3The earth will be utterly laid waste

and thoroughly plundered.

The LORD has spoken this word.

4The earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and fades;

the exalted of the earth waste away.

5The earth is defiled by its people;

they have transgressed the laws;

they have overstepped the decrees

and broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,

and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;

the earth’s dwellers have been burned,

and only a few survive.

7The new wine dries up, the vine withers.

All the merrymakers now groan.

8The joyful tambourines have ceased;

the noise of revelers has stopped;

the joyful harp is silent.

9They no longer sing and drink wine;

strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.

10The city of chaos is shattered;

every house is closed to entry.

11In the streets they cry out for wine.

All joy turns to gloom;

rejoicing is exiled from the land.

12The city is left in ruins;

its gate is reduced to rubble.

13So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the westa they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.

15Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.

Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel

in the islandsb of the sea.

16From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!

Woe is me.”

The treacherous betray;

the treacherous deal in treachery.

17Terror and pit and snare await you,

O dwellers of the earth.

18Whoever flees the sound of terror

will fall into a pit,

and whoever climbs from the pit

will be caught in a trap.

For the windows of heaven are open,

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19The earth is utterly broken apart,

the earth is split open,

the earth is shaken violently.

20The earth staggers like a drunkard

and sways like a shack.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

21In that day the LORD will punish

the host of heaven above

and the kings of the earth below.

22They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.

They will be confined to a dungeon

and punished after many days.

23The moon will be confounded

and the sun will be ashamed;

for the LORD of Hosts will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before His elders with great glory.