The Earth Is Utterly Broken
1 Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants. 2 It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest. 3 The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish. 5 The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. 7 The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. 8 The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases. 9 They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it. 10 The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone. 12 The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction. 13 For it will be so within the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done. 14 These shall lift up their voice. They will shout for the majesty of Yahweh. They cry aloud from the sea. 15 Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea! 16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously. 17 Fear, the pit, and the snare are on you who inhabit the earth. 18 It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the middle of the pit will be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. 19 The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently. 20 The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again. 21 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. 22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be visited. 23 Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem; and glory will be before his elders.
The judgment widens from nations to the planet, and every social distinction is canceled in a single verse.
Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.
After eleven chapters against named nations, four chapters against the world. There is no addressee here, and no country is specified.
It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
Six pairs, and every one is a relationship of unequal power. The judgment does not distinguish between them, which is a harder thing than levelling: the creditor and the debtor end in the same condition, and neither position turns out to have been an advantage.
The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
The charge is universal and the covenant named is not Sinai's — it is everlasting, and the phrase points back to the agreement made with Noah and all flesh after the flood Genesis 9:16. What the whole earth is held to is what the whole earth was given.
7 The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. 8 The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases.
The chapter measures catastrophe by the ending of music and drinking, which is how a society actually notices. They will not drink wine with a song Isaiah 24:9 — the drinking continues and the singing does not.
The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
A city with every door barred. The word rendered confused is the one used of the formless waste before creation Genesis 1:2, and its use of a city is the chapter's most compressed judgment.
From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.
Singing is heard from the far edges of the world, and the prophet cannot join in. He hears the outcome and is still living in the middle of the process, which is the position the book keeps putting him in.
It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the middle of the pit will be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
Three hazards in sequence, each escaped into the next. It is the standard picture of a day nobody outruns.
The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.
The planet described as a drunk and as a night shelter swinging in the wind, and what pulls it down is the weight of what has been done on it.
21 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. 22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be visited.
Two sets of powers, one above and one below, dealt with together — and the sentence is imprisonment with a term on it. After many days they will be visited, which is the language of a case reopened rather than closed.
Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem; and glory will be before his elders.
The two lights are embarrassed rather than extinguished. Something brighter has arrived.
settled What this mark means