Isaiah24
New Living Translation
1Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. He devastates the surface of the earth and scatters the people.
2Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors—none will be spared.
3The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The Lord has spoken!
4The earth mourns and dries up, and the land wastes away and withers. Even the greatest people on earth waste away.
5The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant.
6Therefore, a curse consumes the earth. Its people must pay the price for their sin. They are destroyed by fire, and only a few are left alive.
7The grapevines waste away, and there is no new wine. All the merrymakers sigh and mourn.
8The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled; the happy cries of celebration are heard no more. The melodious chords of the harp are silent.
9Gone are the joys of wine and song; alcoholic drink turns bitter in the mouth.
10The city writhes in chaos; every home is locked to keep out intruders.
11Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine. Joy has turned to gloom. Gladness has been banished from the land.
12The city is left in ruins, its gates battered down.
13Throughout the earth the story is the same— only a remnant is left, like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.
14But all who are left shout and sing for joy. Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.
15In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord. In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One! But my heart is heavy with grief. Weep for me, for I wither away. Deceit 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 be caught in a snare. Destruction falls like rain from the heavens; the foundations of the earth shake.
19The earth has broken up. It has utterly collapsed; it is violently shaken.
20The earth staggers like a drunk. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.
21In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.
22They will be rounded up and put in prison. They will be shut up in prison and will finally be punished.
23Then the glory of the moon will wane, and the brightness of the sun will fade, for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion. He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 24.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The desolation of the land. (1-12). A few shall be preserved. (13-15). God's kingdom advanced by his judgments. (16-23).
vv1-12
All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth, will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spirit which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth is become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be his habitation. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble, See the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin brings these calamities upon the earth; it is polluted by the sins of men, therefore it is made desolate by God's judgments. Carnal joy will soon be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make strong drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can take their joy from them.
vv13-15
There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed; like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lord knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts, and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those who rejoice in the Lord can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may triumph when all about them are in tears. They encourage their fellow-sufferers to do likewise, even those who are in the furnace of affliction. Or, in the valleys, low, dark, miry places. In every fire, even the hottest, in every place, even the remotest, let us keep up our good thoughts of God. If none of these trials move us, then we glorify the Lord in the fires.
vv16-23
Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in the earth as in a palace, as in a castle; but it shall be removed like a cottage, like a lodge put up for the night. It shall fall and not rise again; but there shall be new heavens and a new earth, in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness. Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heavy burden, under which it groans now, and will sink at last. The high ones, that are puffed up with their grandeur, that think themselves out of the reach of danger, God will visit for their pride and cruelty. Let us judge nothing before the time, though some shall be visited. None in this world should be secure, though their condition be ever so prosperous; nor need any despair, though their condition be ever so deplorable. God will be glorified in all this. But the mystery of Providence is not yet finished. The ruin of the Redeemer's enemies must make way for his kingdom, and then the Sun of Righteousness will appear in full glory. Happy are those who take warning by the sentence against others; every impenitent sinner will sink under his transgression, and rise no more, while believers enjoy everlasting bliss.
Key Words
הִנֵּה: lo!
בָּקַק: to pour out, i.e. to empty, figuratively, to depopulate; by analogy, to spread out (as a fruitful vine)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
בָּלַק: to annihilate
עָוָה: to crook, literally or figuratively
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
פּוּץ: to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse)
יָשַׁב: properly, to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry
עַם: a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock
כֹּהֵן: literally one officiating, a priest; also (by courtesy) an acting priest (although a layman)
Cross References
Isaiah 24Jeremiah uses the exact same proverbial sequence: 'Fear, and the pit, and the snare.'
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Ezekiel similarly describes universal societal dissolution where buyer and seller share the same fate.
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Poole links this to the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28 that devour the land.
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The phrase 'windows from on high are open' directly echoes the language of Noah's flood.
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The land is defiled/polluted by the blood of its inhabitants, drawing from the Torah's warning.
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John in Revelation echoes Isaiah's language concerning the cessation of harp, flute, and voice.
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Employs the identical agricultural metaphor of remnant shaking of an olive tree.
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Praising the name of the Lord from the rising of the sun to the west.
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Amos shares the proverbial idea of escaping one danger only to fall into another.
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Parallel usage where 'world' refers to a specific proud kingdom, like Babylon.
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The moral defilement of the land causing it to vomit out its inhabitants.
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Joel matches Isaiah's description of mourning new wine and languishing vines.
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Isaiah elsewhere condemns those seeking strong drink, which here turns bitter to them.
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Glorifying God 'in the fires' of affliction and trial to test faith.
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Jeremiah's cosmic vision of the earth broken down, dissolved, and ruined by judgment.
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Universal judgment showing no distinction of class, from kings to bondmen.
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Demonstrates how 'world' (oikoumene) is used synecdochically for a specific region.
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Refers to the 'everlasting covenant' established with Abraham and his descendants.
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The cessation of mirth, tabrets, and the voice of gladness in judgment.
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A highly similar call to the drunkards to weep because the wine is cut off.
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Refining a remnant through the fire so they will call on His name.
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The ultimate reign of the Lord God Omnipotent on His glorious throne.
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Poetic description of bones and skin burned internally with dry heat.
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The house of Israel and Judah dealing very treacherously against the Lord.
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