24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth

and leave it in ruins;

he will mar its surface

and scatter its inhabitants.

24:2 Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, ¹ 

the master as well as the servant, ² 

the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, ³ 

the seller as well as the buyer, ⁴ 

the borrower as well as the lender, ⁵ 

the creditor as well as the debtor. ⁶ 

24:3 The earth will be completely devastated

and thoroughly ransacked.

For the Lord has decreed this judgment. ⁷ 

24:4 The earth ⁸  dries up ⁹  and withers,

the world shrivels up and withers;

the prominent people of the earth ¹⁰  fade away.

24:5 The earth is defiled by ¹¹  its inhabitants, ¹² 

for they have violated laws,

disregarded the regulation, ¹³ 

and broken the permanent treaty. ¹⁴ 

24:6 So a treaty curse ¹⁵  devours the earth;

its inhabitants pay for their guilt. ¹⁶ 

This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, ¹⁷ 

and are reduced to just a handful of people. ¹⁸ 

24:7 The new wine dries up,

the vines shrivel up,

all those who like to celebrate ¹⁹  groan.

24:8 The happy sound ²⁰  of the tambourines stops,

the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,

the happy sound of the harp ceases.

24:9 They no longer sing and drink wine; ²¹ 

the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.

24:10 The ruined town ²²  is shattered;

all of the houses are shut up tight. ²³ 

24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; ²⁴ 

all joy turns to sorrow; ²⁵ 

celebrations disappear from the earth. ²⁶ 

24:12 The city is left in ruins; ²⁷ 

the gate is reduced to rubble. ²⁸ 

24:13 This is what will happen throughout ²⁹  the earth,

among the nations.

It will be like when they beat an olive tree,

and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest. ³⁰ 

24:14 They ³¹  lift their voices and shout joyfully;

they praise ³²  the majesty of the Lord in the west.

24:15 So in the east ³³  extol the Lord,

along the seacoasts extol ³⁴  the fame ³⁵  of the Lord God of Israel.

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ³⁶  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ³⁷ 

But I ³⁸  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ³⁹ 

24:17 Terror, pit, and snare

are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth! ⁴⁰ 

24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror

will fall into the pit; ⁴¹ 

the one who climbs out of the pit,

will be trapped by the snare.

For the floodgates of the heavens ⁴²  are opened up ⁴³ 

and the foundations of the earth shake.

24:19 The earth is broken in pieces,

the earth is ripped to shreds,

the earth shakes violently. ⁴⁴ 

24:20 The earth will stagger around ⁴⁵  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ⁴⁶ 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

24:21 At that time ⁴⁷  the Lord will punish ⁴⁸ 

the heavenly forces in the heavens ⁴⁹ 

and the earthly kings on the earth.

24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, ⁵⁰ 

locked up in a prison,

and after staying there for a long time, ⁵¹  they will be punished. ⁵² 

24:23 The full moon will be covered up, ⁵³ 

the bright sun ⁵⁴  will be darkened; ⁵⁵ 

for the Lord who commands armies will rule ⁵⁶ 

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem ⁵⁷ 

in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor. ⁵⁸ 

25:1 O Lord, you are my God! ⁵⁹ 

I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. ⁶⁰ 

For you have done extraordinary things,

and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. ⁶¹ 

25:2 Indeed, ⁶²  you have made the city ⁶³  into a heap of rubble,

the fortified town into a heap of ruins;

the fortress of foreigners ⁶⁴  is no longer a city,

it will never be rebuilt.

25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;

the towns of ⁶⁵  powerful nations will fear you.

25:4 For you are a protector for the poor,

a protector for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the rainstorm,

a shade from the heat.

Though the breath of tyrants ⁶⁶  is like a winter rainstorm, ⁶⁷ 

25:5 like heat ⁶⁸  in a dry land,

you humble the boasting foreigners. ⁶⁹ 

Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ⁷⁰ 

so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁷¹ 

25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. ⁷² 

At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –

tender meat and choicest wine. ⁷³ 

25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up

the shroud that is over all the peoples, ⁷⁴ 

the woven covering that is over all the nations; ⁷⁵ 

25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. ⁷⁶ 

The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,

and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ⁷⁷ 

25:9 At that time they will say, ⁷⁸ 

“Look, here ⁷⁹  is our God!

We waited for him and he delivered us.

Here ⁸⁰  is the Lord! We waited for him.

Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”

25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. ⁸¹ 

Moab will be trampled down where it stands, ⁸² 

as a heap of straw is trampled down in ⁸³  a manure pile.

25:11 Moab ⁸⁴  will spread out its hands in the middle of it, ⁸⁵ 

just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim;

the Lord ⁸⁶  will bring down Moab’s ⁸⁷  pride as it spreads its hands. ⁸⁸ 

25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your ⁸⁹  walls) ⁹⁰  he will knock down,

he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground. ⁹¹ 

26:1 At that time ⁹²  this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city!

The Lord’s ⁹³  deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. ⁹⁴ 

26:2 Open the gates so a righteous nation can enter –

one that remains trustworthy.

26:3 You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith,

for they trust in you. ⁹⁵ 

26:4 Trust in the Lord from this time forward, ⁹⁶ 

even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector! ⁹⁷ 

26:5 Indeed, ⁹⁸  the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place,

he brings down an elevated town;

he brings it down to the ground, ⁹⁹ 

he throws it down to the dust.

26:6 It is trampled underfoot

by the feet of the oppressed,

by the soles of the poor.”

26:7 ¹⁰⁰ 

The way of the righteous is level,

the path of the righteous that you make is straight. ¹⁰¹ 

26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold, ¹⁰² 

O Lord, we wait for you.

We desire your fame and reputation to grow. ¹⁰³ 

26:9 I ¹⁰⁴  look for ¹⁰⁵  you during the night,

my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,

for when your judgments come upon the earth,

those who live in the world learn about justice. ¹⁰⁶ 

26:10 If the wicked are shown mercy,

they do not learn about justice. ¹⁰⁷ 

Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; ¹⁰⁸ 

they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.

26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, ¹⁰⁹ 

but they don’t even notice.

They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, ¹¹⁰ 

yes, fire will consume your enemies. ¹¹¹ 

26:12 O Lord, you make us secure, ¹¹² 

for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. ¹¹³ 

26:13 O Lord, our God,

masters other than you have ruled us,

but we praise your name alone.

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹¹⁴ 

That is because ¹¹⁵  you came in judgment ¹¹⁶  and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

26:15 You have made the nation larger, ¹¹⁷  O Lord,

you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, ¹¹⁸ 

you have extended all the borders of the land.

26:16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;

they uttered incantations because of your discipline. ¹¹⁹ 

26:17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver

and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,

so were we because of you, O Lord.

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ¹²⁰ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ¹²¹ 

26:19 ¹²² 

Your dead will come back to life;

your corpses will rise up.

Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! ¹²³ 

For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, ¹²⁴ 

and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. ¹²⁵ 

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ¹²⁶ 

26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, ¹²⁷ 

to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.

The earth will display the blood shed on it;

it will no longer cover up its slain. ¹²⁸ 

27:1 At that time ¹²⁹  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ¹³⁰  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ¹³¹  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ¹³² 

27:2 When that time comes, ¹³³ 

sing about a delightful vineyard! ¹³⁴ 

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; ¹³⁵ 

I water it regularly. ¹³⁶ 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. ¹³⁷ 

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ¹³⁸  for battle;

I would set them ¹³⁹  all on fire,

27:5 unless they became my subjects ¹⁴⁰ 

and made peace with me;

let them make peace with me. ¹⁴¹ 

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ¹⁴² 

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce ¹⁴³  will fill the surface of the world. ¹⁴⁴ 

27:7 Has the Lord struck down Israel like he did their oppressors? ¹⁴⁵ 

Has Israel been killed like their enemies? ¹⁴⁶ 

27:8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her; ¹⁴⁷ 

he drives her away ¹⁴⁸  with his strong wind in the day of the east wind. ¹⁴⁹ 

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹⁵⁰ 

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ¹⁵¹ 

They will make all the stones of the altars ¹⁵² 

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ¹⁵³ 

27:10 For the fortified city ¹⁵⁴  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ¹⁵⁵  graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare. ¹⁵⁶ 

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ¹⁵⁷  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ¹⁵⁸ 

For these people lack understanding, ¹⁵⁹ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

27:12 At that time ¹⁶⁰  the Lord will shake the tree, ¹⁶¹  from the Euphrates River ¹⁶²  to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites. ¹⁶³  27:13 At that time ¹⁶⁴  a large ¹⁶⁵  trumpet will be blown, and the ones lost ¹⁶⁶  in the land of Assyria will come, as well as the refugees in ¹⁶⁷  the land of Egypt. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. ¹⁶⁸