Yesaya 24:7-12

24:7 The new wine dries up,

the vines shrivel up,

all those who like to celebrate ¹  groan.

24:8 The happy sound ²  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; ³ 

the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.

24:10 The ruined town ⁴  is shattered;

all of the houses are shut up tight. ⁵ 

24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; ⁶ 

all joy turns to sorrow; ⁷ 

celebrations disappear from the earth. ⁸ 

24:12 The city is left in ruins; ⁹ 

the gate is reduced to rubble. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 33:10

33:10 “I, the Lord, say: ¹¹  ‘You and your people are saying ¹²  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ¹³  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.

[24:7]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “all the joyful in heart,” but the context specifies the context as parties and drinking bouts.

[24:8]  ² tn Heb “the joy” (again later in this verse).

[24:9]  ³ tn Heb “with a song they do not drink wine.”

[24:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “the city of chaos” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Isaiah uses the term תֹּהוּ (tohu) rather frequently of things (like idols) that are empty and worthless (see BDB 1062 s.v.), so the word might characterize the city as rebellious or morally worthless. However, in this context, which focuses on the effects of divine judgment, it probably refers to the ruined or worthless condition in which the city is left (note the use of the word in Isa 34:11). For a discussion of the identity of this city, see R. Chisholm, “The ‘Everlasting Covenant’ and the ‘City of Chaos’: Intentional Ambiguity and Irony in Isaiah 24,” CTR 6 (1993): 237-53. In the context of universal judgment depicted in Isa 24, this city represents all the nations and cities of the world which, like Babylon of old and the powers/cities mentioned in chapters 13-23, rebel against God’s authority. Behind the stereotypical language one can detect various specific manifestations of this symbolic and paradigmatic city, including Babylon, Moab, and Jerusalem, all of which are alluded or referred to in chapters 24-27.

[24:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “every house is closed up from entering.”

[24:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “[there is] an outcry over the wine in the streets.”

[24:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “all joy turns to evening,” the darkness of evening symbolizing distress and sorrow.

[24:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “the joy of the earth disappears.”

[24:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there is left in the city desolation.”

[24:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [into] rubble the gate is crushed.”

[33:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” For the first person rendering see the translator’s note at the end of v. 2.

[33:10]  sn The phrase here is parallel to that in v. 4 and introduces a further amplification of the “great and mysterious things” of v. 3.

[33:10]  ¹² tn Heb “You.” However, the pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43. See the translator’s note on 32:36.

[33:10]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.