CHAPTER 24
1 Lo! the Lord shall destroy the earth, and shall make it naked, and shall torment the face thereof; and he shall scatter abroad the dwellers thereof (or and he shall scatter abroad all of its inhabitants).
2 And it shall be, as the people, so the priest; as the servant, so his lord; as the handmaid, so the lady of her, (or as the servantess, so her lady); as a buyer, so he that selleth; as the lender, so he that taketh borrowing; as he that asketh again, so he that oweth.
3 By destroying the land shall be destroyed, and shall be made naked by ravishing (or and shall be made naked by robbery); for why the Lord spake this word.
4 The earth mourned, and floated away, and is made sick; the world floated away, the highness of the people of [the] earth is made sick,
5 and the earth is slain of his dwellers. For they passed (over)[the] laws, changed [the] right, destroyed [the] everlasting bond of peace. (and the earth is defiled by its inhabitants. For they passed over thy laws, changed what was right, and destroyed the covenant.)
6 For this thing, cursing shall devour the earth, and the dwellers thereof shall do sin (or and its inhabitants shall do sin); and therefore the lovers thereof shall be (made) mad, and few men shall be left.
7 [The] Vintage mourned, the vine is sick; all men that were glad in heart wailed. (The wine soured, the vine is sick, or diseased; all who were happy in heart wailed.)
8 The joy of tympans ceased, the sound of glad men rested; the sweetness of [the] harp with song was still(ed). (The joy of the drums, or of the tambourines, ceased, the shouts of happy people stopped; the sweetness of the harp was silenced.)
9 They shall not drink wine (with a song); a bitter drink shall be to them that shall drink it.
10 The city of vanity is all-broken (or This city of chaos, or of confusion, is a broken city); each house is closed (up), for no man entereth (in).
11 Cry shall be on wine in [the] streets, all gladness is forsaken, the joy of [the] earth is taken away. (A cry for some wine shall be in the streets, all happiness is gone, the joy of the land is taken away.)
12 Desolation is left in the city, and wretchedness shall oppress the gates.
13 For these things shall be in the midst of [the] earth, in the midst of (the) peoples, as if a few fruits of olive trees that be left be shaken off from the olive tree (or like when the few fruits that be left on the olive trees be shaken off the trees), and (like the last of the) raisins, when the vintage is ended.
14 These men shall raise [up] their voice, and shall praise, when the Lord shall be glorified; they shall show signs of gladness from the sea (or they shall shout with joy from the west).
15 For this thing glorify ye the Lord in teachings; in the isles of the sea glorify ye the name of the Lord God of Israel. (And so glorify ye the Lord in the east; on the islands of the sea glorify ye the name of the Lord God of Israel.)
16 From the ends of [the] earth we have heard praisings, the glory of the just. And I said, My private to me, my private to me, (or But I said, Treasons! treasons!). Woe to me, [the] trespassers have trespassed, and have trespassed by [the] trespassing of (the) breakers of the law.
17 Fearedfulness, and a ditch, and a snare on thee, that art a dweller of [the] earth. (Let fearfulness, and a ditch, and a snare be upon thee, who art an inhabitant of the land.)
18 And it shall be, he that shall flee from the face of fearedfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he that shall deliver himself from the ditch, shall be holden of the snare; for why the windows of high things be opened, and the foundaments of [the] earth shall be shaken together. (And it shall be, that he who shall flee from the face of fearfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he who shall get himself out of the ditch, shall be caught by the snare; for the windows of the high places, or of the heavens, be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be altogether shaken.)
19 The earth shall be broken with breaking, the earth shall be defouled with defouling (or the earth shall be defiled with defiling), the earth shall be moved with moving,
20 the earth shall be shaken with shaking, as a drunken man. And it shall be taken away, as the tabernacle of one night (or like a tent in the night), and the wickedness thereof shall grieve it; and it shall fall down, and it shall not add, for to rise again.
21 And it shall be, in that day the Lord shall visit on the knighthood of heaven on high, and on the kings of (the) earth, that be on earth. (And it shall be, on that day the Lord shall punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth, who be on the earth.)
22 And they shall be gathered together in the gathering together of a bundle into the pit, and they shall be closed there in prison; and after many days they shall be visited. (And they shall be gathered together like prisoners be gathered together in a pit, and they shall be enclosed there in prison; and after many days they shall be punished.)
23 And the moon shall be ashamed, and the sun shall be confounded, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in the hill of Zion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his elder men. (And the moon shall be shamed, and the sun shall be shamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified before its elders.)