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