A Message to Strengthen Your Heart – Isaiah 24:1-23
24 Listen! Jehovah is going to empty the earth and devastate it; he is going to turn it upside down and scatter its inhabitants. (2) The same fate is in store for the common people and the priest, for the servant and the master, for the maid and her mistress, for the buyer and the seller, for the lender and the borrower, for the creditor and the debtor. (3) The earth will be totally emptied and utterly devastated, for Jehovah has spoken this word. (4) The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted people of the earth languish. (5) The earth has become defiled by its inhabitants; because they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. (6) Therefore, the curse will devour the earth, and those who dwell upon it will bear their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth will be burned up, and few will be left. (7) The juice of the grape dries up, the vine withers; all the merrymakers sigh. (8) The mirth of the tambourines is silenced, the noise of the revelers stops, the joyful music of the harp ceases. (9) No longer shall they drink wine with a song; the beer shall taste bitter to those who drink it. (10) The ruined city lies desolate; every house is shut up, so that no one may enter. (11) There is crying in the streets because the wine is gone, all joy turns to gloom, mirth has departed from the earth. (12) The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to pieces.
(13) As when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest, so shall it be on the earth and among the nations. (14) Those who are left shall raise their voice, they shall shout for joy; from the west they shall cry aloud with praise for the majesty of Jehovah. (15) Therefore, glorify Jehovah in the east, and in the islands of the sea glorify the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
(16) From the ends of the earth we hear songs that proclaim, Glory to the Righteous One! But I said, I pine away! I pine away! Woe to me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously! Indeed, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously! (17) Terror and the pit and the snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth! (18) Whoever flees at the report of the terror will fall into the pit; and whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for the floodgates of the heavens have been opened and the foundations of the earth tremble. (19) The earth is broken apart, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken violently. (20) The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, it shall sway back and forth like a hammock; the weight of its transgression shall be so heavy upon it that it shall collapse—never to rise again. (21) On that day Jehovah will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. (22) They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and after many days they will be punished. (23) The moon will blush and the sun will turn pale; because Jehovah of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem—and His glory shall be before his elders.
A note on the Scripture text that accompanies each individual message: The American Standard Version and the New International Version, along with the original Greek and Hebrew, have been used in an effort to achieve the greatest degree of accuracy and clarity. Where words or phrases have been added to the original text in an effort to better express its meaning, those words or phrases have usually been indicated by means of italics.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
