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Judgment on the Earth

¹ Behold, the LORD ^(C1)lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.² And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the ^(C1)creditor like the debtor.³ The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word.⁴ The ^(C1)earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the ^(C2)exalted of the people of the earth fade away.⁵ The earth is also ^(C1)polluted ^(F1)by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, ^(C2)broke the everlasting covenant.⁶ Therefore, a ^(C1)curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the ^(C2)inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

⁷ The ^(C1)new wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the merry-hearted sigh.

⁸ The ^(C1)gaiety of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The gaiety of the harp ceases.

⁹ They do not drink wine with song;
^(C1)Strong drink is ^(C2)bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰ The ^(C1)city of chaos is broken down;
^(C2)Every house is shut up so that none may enter.

¹¹ There is an ^(C1)outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
^(C2)All joy ^(F1)turns to gloom.
The gaiety of the earth is banished.

¹² Desolation is left in the city
And the ^(C1)gate is battered to ruins.

¹³ For ^(C1)thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the ^(F1)shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.

^14 (C1)They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the ^(F1)west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

¹⁵ Therefore ^(C1)glorify the LORD in the ^(F1)east,
The ^(C2)name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
In the ^(F2)(C3)coastlands of the sea.

¹⁶ From the ^(C1)ends of the earth we hear songs, "^(C2)Glory to the Righteous One,"
But I say, "^(F1)(C3)Woe to me! ^(F1)Woe to me! Alas for me!
The ^(C4)treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously."

^17 (C1)Terror and pit and snare
^(F1)Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

¹⁸ Then it will be that he who flees the ^(F1)report of disaster will fall into the pit,
And he who ^(F2)climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the ^(C1)windows ^(F3)above are opened, and the ^(C2)foundations of the earth shake.

^19 (C1)The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is ^(C2)split through,
The earth is shaken violently.

²⁰ The earth ^(C1)reels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a ^(F1)shack,
For its ^(C2)transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, ^(C3)never to rise again.

²¹ So it will happen in that day,
That the LORD will ^(C1)punish the host of ^(F1)heaven on high,
And the ^(C2)kings of the earth on earth.

²² They will be gathered together
Like ^(C1)prisoners in the ^(F1)dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will ^(C2)be punished.

²³ Then the ^(C1)moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the ^(C2)LORD of hosts will reign on ^(C3)Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.