1Jehovah lays the earth waste, annihilates it, disfigures its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2The people will be like the one officiating, 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. 3The earth will be completely uninhabitable and totally plundered. Jehovah has spoken this word. 4The earth mourns and fades away, the world fades and withers, the exalted people of the earth mourn. 5The inhabitants of the earth pollute the earth. They transgress laws and violate statutes. They break the everlasting covenant. 6A curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are found guilty. Therefore, those living on the earth are burned, and few men are left. 7The new wine mourns, the vine decays and the merry-hearted sigh. 8The joyful sound of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers and the delight of the harp cease. 9They no longer drink wine with a song. The beverage is bitter to its drinkers. 10The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred and none may enter. 11In the streets they cry out for wine. Joy turns to gloom and rejoicing is banished from the earth. 12The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to pieces. 13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest. 14They raise their voices and shout for joy. From the west they acclaim Jehovah’s majesty. 15Therefore in the east give glory to Jehovah. Exalt the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. 16Listen to them as they sing to Jehovah from the ends of the earth: »Glory and praise to the righteous one!« But I say: »My heart is heavy with grief. I am discouraged, for evil still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.« 17Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, you people of the earth. 18Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you. 19The earth is broken and destroyed and it is split into pieces. The earth is shaken violently. 20The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it quakes like a shack in the wind. Its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again. 21That day Jehovah will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth below. 22They will be gathered like prisoners in the dungeon tower. They will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished. 23Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For Jehovah of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And his glory will be before his elders.