Yesaya 24:7-16

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 

24:13 This is what will happen throughout ¹¹  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. ¹² 

24:14 They ¹³  lift their voices and shout joyfully;

they praise ¹⁴  the majesty of the Lord in the west.

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

along the seacoasts extol ¹⁶  the fame ¹⁷  of the Lord God of Israel.

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ¹⁸  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ¹⁹ 

But I ²⁰  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ²¹ 

[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.”

[24:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the midst of” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[24:13]  ¹² sn The judgment will severely reduce the earth’s population. See v. 6.

[24:14]  ¹³ sn The remnant of the nations (see v. 13) may be the unspecified subject. If so, then those who have survived the judgment begin to praise God.

[24:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they yell out concerning.”

[24:15]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “in the lights,” interpreted by some to mean “in the region of light,” referring to the east. Some scholars have suggested the emendation of בָּאֻרִים (ba’urim) to בְּאִיֵּי הַיָּם (bÿ’iyyey hayyam, “along the seacoasts”), a phrase that is repeated in the next line. In this case, the two lines form synonymous parallelism. If one retains the MT reading (as above), “in the east” and “along the seacoasts” depict the two ends of the earth to refer to all the earth (as a merism).

[24:15]  ¹⁶ tn The word “extol” is supplied in the translation; the verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[24:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “name,” which here stands for God’s reputation achieved by his mighty deeds.

[24:16]  ¹⁸ sn The identity of the subject is unclear. Apparently in vv. 15-16a an unidentified group responds to the praise they hear in the west by exhorting others to participate.

[24:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Beauty belongs to the just one.” These words may summarize the main theme of the songs mentioned in the preceding line.

[24:16]  ²⁰ sn The prophet seems to contradict what he hears the group saying. Their words are premature because more destruction is coming.

[24:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

[24:16]  tn Verse 16b is a classic example of Hebrew wordplay. In the first line (“I’m wasting away…”) four consecutive words end with hireq yod ( ִי); in the second line all forms are derived from the root בָּגַד (bagad). The repetition of sound draws attention to the prophet’s lament.