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24. Lord's Devastation of 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 the master as for his servant,
   for the mistress as for her servant,
   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 heavens languish with the earth.
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 joyful timbrels are 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 joyful sounds are 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,
   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 violently 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 falls—never 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 Or released after many days.
23 The moon will be dismayed,
   the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
   on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
   and before its elders—with great glory.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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.
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