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Impending Judgment on the Earth

Now the L ord is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, 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 debtor.

The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled;

for the L ord has spoken this word.

The earth dries up and withers,

the world languishes and withers;

the heavens languish together with the earth.

The earth lies polluted

under its inhabitants;

for they have transgressed laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,

and few people are left.

The wine dries up,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

The mirth of the timbrels is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

No longer do they drink wine with singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

The city of chaos is broken down,

every house is shut up so that no one can enter.

There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

all joy has reached its eventide;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

Desolation is left in the city,

the gates are battered into ruins.

For thus it shall be on the earth

and among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended.

They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

they shout from the west over the majesty of the L ord.

Therefore in the east give glory to the L ord;

in the coastlands of the sea glorify the name of the L ord, the God of Israel.

From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to the Righteous One.

But I say, I pine away,

I pine away. Woe is me!

For the treacherous deal treacherously,

the treacherous deal very treacherously.

Terror, and the pit, and the snare

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

Whoever flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit;

and whoever climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are opened,

and the foundations of the earth tremble.

The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is torn asunder,

the earth is violently shaken.

The earth staggers like a drunkard,

it sways like a hut;

its transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

On that day the L ord will punish

the host of heaven in heaven,

and on earth the kings of the earth.

They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days they will be punished.

Then the moon will be abashed,

and the sun ashamed;

for the L ord of hosts will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before his elders he will manifest his glory.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

13. For it shall be in the midst of the land. As this statement is inserted between the threatenings and the consolation, the Prophet appears to address the chosen people, and not all the nations indiscriminately; if we do not rather say that he describes the dispersion, by which the Jews were divided, as it were, into many nations. But this being a harsh and forced interpretation, I interpret it as simply meaning that some hope is left to the ruined nations, and certainly this prediction applies strictly to the kingdom of Christ; and therefore we need not wonder that some part of the salvation is also promised to the Gentiles.

As the shaking of an olive-tree. The Prophet has elsewhere used the same metaphor, but it was when he spoke of the Church alone. (Isaiah 17:5, 6.) On that occasion he said that some seed of God would be left, that believers might not think that the Church was utterly ruined; for when “the olives are shaken,” still a few olives are left, and some grapes after the vintage; and in like manner, after the terrible destruction which shall fall upon the Church, a small number of the godly will be left. But now he extends the same promise to other parts of the world, as they were to become partakers of the same grace through Christ. Yet there is still a mixture of threatening; as if he had said, that the earth will be deprived of its inhabitants in exactly the same manner as the trees and vines are stripped of their fruits.