The Judgment on the Earth

• and is about to devastate it,
• and he will twist her surface,
  • and he will scatter her inhabitants.
  • 2 with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master;
• as with the female slave, so with her mistress;
  • as with the buyer, so with the seller;
• as with the lender, so with the borrower;
  • as with the creditor, so with the one to whom he lends.
  • 3  and it shall be utterly plundered,

for Yahweh has spoken this word.

• 4 the world languishes, it withers.
• The elevated of the people of the earth languish,
• 5  For they have transgressed laws;
  • they have passed by statutes;[fn]
  • they have broken the everlasting covenant.
  • 6 the earth, and the inhabitants in it suffer for their guilt.
• Therefore the inhabitants of the earth burn,
  • and[fn]
  • 7 The new wine dries up; the vine languishes.
• All the merry of heart sigh;
• 8 the joy of the tambourine has stopped. The noise of the jubilant has ceased;
  • the joy of the lyre has stopped.
  • 9  strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
  • 10 The city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut[fn]
• 11 there is an outcry over the wine in the streets. All joy turns into[fn]
  • the joy of the earth disappears.
  • 12  the gate is crushed into a state of ruin.
  • 13  among the nations,
• like the beating of an olive tree,
  • like gleanings when a grape harvest is at an end.
  • 14 [fn] they sing for joy; they shout out from the west over the majesty of Yahweh.
  • 15  the name of Yahweh the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
  • 16 [fn] of the earth: “Glory to the righteous one!”
• But I say, “Ruin to me!
  • Ruin to me! Woe to me!
• The treacherous ones deal treacherously,
  • and the treacherous ones deal treacherously with treachery!”

17 Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, inhabitants[fn] of the earth!

• 18 And this shall happen:The one who flees from the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit,
  • and the one who goes up from[fn] shall be caught in the snare,
• for the windows from heaven are opened,
  • and the foundations of the earth tremble.
  • 19  the earth is torn asunder;
  • the earth is shaken violently.
  • 20 The earth staggers to and fro like the drunkard, and it sways like a hut,
• and its transgression is heavy upon it,
  • and it falls and does not rise again.
• 21 And this shall happen on that day:Yahweh will punish the host of heaven in heaven,
  • and the kings of the earth on the earth.
  • 22 in a gathering, like a prisoner[fn] a pit. And they will be shut[fn] a prison and be punished [fn] many days.
  • 23  and the sun will be ashamed,
• for Yahweh of hosts will rule on[fn] and in Jerusalem,
  • and before his elders in glory.