24:1   Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.

24:2  And the people will resemble the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.

24:3  The earth will become completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word.

24:4  The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.

24:5  The earth has also become polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.

24:6  Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it have had guilt Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth burn, and few men remain.

24:7  The new wine mourns, The vine decays, All the merry-hearted sigh.

24:8  The gaiety of tambourines ceases, The noise of revelers stops, The gaiety of the harp ceases.

24:9  They do not drink wine with song; Strong drink tastes bitter to those who drink it.

24:10  The city of chaos has broken down; Every house has become shut up so that none may enter.

24:11   We hear an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; All joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth has dwindled.

24:12  Desolation remains in the city And the gate has become battered to ruins.

24:13  For thus it will seem in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest ends.

24:14   They raise their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

24:15  Therefore glorify the LORD in the east, The name of the LORD, the God of Israel, In the coastlands of the sea.

24:16  From the ends of the earth we hear songs, " Glory to the Righteous One," But I say, " Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously."

24:17   Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

24:18  Then it will seem that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will find himself caught in the snare; For the windows above open, and the foundations of the earth shake.

24:19  The earth has broken asunder, The earth has split through, The earth shakes violently.

24:20  The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression lies heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

24:21  So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth.

24:22  They will gather together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And they will suffer confinement in prison; And after many days they will suffer punishment.

24:23  Then the moon will seem abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will shine before His elders.