Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.
So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
Therefore glorify the LORD in the east. Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery.
Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.
They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.