1Behold, Yahweh is laying waste the earth and stripping it bare; he distorts its face and scatters its inhabitants.
2And it will be — as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maidservant, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the one who owes him.
3The earth will be utterly laid waste and utterly plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word.
4The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the exalted of the people of the earth languish.
5The earth is polluted beneath its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse devours the earth, and those who dwell in it bear their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few people are left.
7The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
8The mirth of the tambourines has ceased, the uproar of the jubilant has stopped, the mirth of the lyre has ceased.
9They no longer drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10The city of chaos is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter.
11There is an outcry over the wine in the streets; all joy has grown dark; the mirth of the earth is banished.
12Ruin is left in the city, and the gate is battered into desolation.
13For thus it will be in the midst of the earth, among the peoples: like the beating of an olive tree, like the gleanings when the grape harvest is finished.
14They lift up their voice, they sing for joy; over the majesty of Yahweh they shout aloud from the west.
15Therefore in the east give glory to Yahweh, in the coastlands of the sea the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
16From the edge of the earth we hear songs: ‘Glory to the Righteous One!’ But I said, ‘I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous deal treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously.’
17Terror and pit and snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18And it will be that whoever flees from the sound of the terror will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs up out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
19The earth is utterly shattered, the earth is torn asunder, the earth is violently shaken.
20The earth staggers to and fro like a drunkard and sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, never to rise again.
21And it will be in that day that Yahweh will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.
23Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for Yahweh of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders there will be glory.
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