The Earth Will Be Punished
1 The Lord is going to twist the earth out of shape and turn it into a desert. Everyone will be scattered, 2 including ordinary people and priests, slaves and slave owners, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, the rich and the poor. 3 The earth will be stripped bare and left that way. This is what the Lord has promised.
4 The earth wilts away;
its mighty leaders melt
to nothing.
5 The earth is polluted
because its people
disobeyed the laws of God,
breaking their agreement
that was to last forever.
6 The earth is under a curse;
its people are dying out
because of their sins.
7 Grapevines have dried up:
wine is almost gone—
mournful sounds are heard
instead of joyful shouts.
8 No one plays tambourines
or stringed instruments;
all noisy celebrating
has come to an end.
9 They no longer sing
as they drink their wine,
and it tastes sour.
10 Towns are crushed and in chaos;
houses are locked tight.
11 Happy times have disappeared
from the earth,
and people shout in the streets,
“We're out of wine!”
12 Cities are destroyed;
their gates are torn down.
13 Nations will be stripped bare,
like olive trees or vineyards
after the harvest season.
Praise the God of Justice
14 People in the west shout;
they joyfully praise
the majesty of the Lord.
15 And so, everyone in the east
and those on the islands
should praise the Lord,
the God of Israel.
16 From all over the world
songs of praise are heard
for the God of justice.
But I feel awful,
terribly miserable.
Can anyone be trusted?
So many are treacherous!
There's No Escape
17 Terror, traps, and pits
are waiting for everyone.
18 If you are terrified and run,
you will fall into a pit;
if you crawl out of the pit,
you will get caught in a trap.
The sky has split apart
like a window thrown open.
The foundations of the earth
have been shaken;
19 the earth is shattered,
ripped to pieces.
20 It staggers and shakes
like a drunkard
or a hut in a windstorm.
It is burdened down with sin;
the earth will fall,
never again to get up.
21 On that day the Lord
will punish the powers
in the heavens
and the kings of the earth.
22 He will put them in a pit
and keep them prisoner.
Then later on,
he will punish them.
23 Both the moon and sun will
be embarrassed and ashamed.
The Lord All-Powerful will rule
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
where he will show its rulers
his wonderful glory.
1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth emptie, and hee maketh it waste: hee turneth it vpside downe, and scattereth abrode the inhabitants thereof. 2 And there shalbe like people, like Priest, and like seruaunt, like master, like maide, like mistresse, like bier, like seller, like lender, like borower, like giuer, like taker to vsurie. 3 The earth shalbe cleane emptied, and vtterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this worde. 4 The earth lamenteth and fadeth away: the world is feeble and decaied: the proude people of the earth are weakened. 5 The earth also deceiueth, because of the inhabitantes thereof: for they transgressed the lawes: they changed the ordinances, and brake the euerlasting couenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse deuoured the earth, and the inhabitantes thereof are desolate. Wherefore the inhabitants of the land are burned vp, and fewe men are left. 7 The wine faileth, the vine hath no might: all that were of merie heart, doe mourne. 8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth: the noyse of them that reioyce, endeth: the ioye of the harpe ceaseth. 9 They shall not drinke wine with mirth: strong drinke shall be bitter to them that drinke it. 10 The citie of vanitie is broken downe: euery house is shut vp, that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying for wine in the streetes: al ioy is darkened: the mirth of the world is gone away. 12 In the citie is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. 13 Surely thus shall it bee in the middes of the earth, among the people, as the shaking of an oliue tree, and as the grapes when the vintage is ended. 14 They shall lift vp their voyce: they shall shout for the magnificence of the Lord: they shall reioyce from the sea. 15 Wherefore praise yee the Lord in the valleis, euen the Name of the Lord God of Israel, in the yles of the sea. 16 From the vttermost part of the earth wee haue heard praises, euen glory to the iust, and I sayd, My leanesse, my leanesse, woe is mee: the transgressours haue offended: yea, the transgressours haue grieuously offended. 17 Feare, and the pitte, and the snare are vpon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 And hee that fleeth from the noyse of the feare, shall fall into the pit: and he that commeth vp out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the windowes from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth doe shake. 19 The earth is vtterly broken downe: the earth is cleane dissolued: the earth is mooued exceedingly. 20 The earth shall reele to and from like a drunken man, and shall be remooued like a tent, and the iniquitie thereof shall be heauie vpon it: so that it shall fall, and rise no more. 21 And in that day shall the Lord visite the hoste aboue that is on hie, euen the Kinges of the world that are vpon the earth. 22 And they shall be gathered together, as the prisoners in the pit: and they shall be shut vp in the prison, and after many daies shall they be visited. 23 Then the moone shall be abashed, and the sunne ashamed, when the Lord of hostes shall reigne in mount Zion and in Ierusalem: and glory shalbe before his ancient men.