24:1  BEHOLD, THE Lord will make the land {and} the earth empty and make it waste and turn it upside down (twist the face of it) and scatter abroad its inhabitants.

24:2  And it shall be--as [what happens] 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 lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

24:3  The land {and} the earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly pillaged; for the Lord has said this.

24:4  The land {and} the earth mourn and wither, the world languishes and withers, the high ones of the people [and the heavens with the earth] languish.

24:5  The land {and} the earth also are defiled by their inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, disregarded the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

24:6  Therefore a curse devours the land {and} the earth, and they who dwell in it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the land {and} the earth are scorched {and} parched [under the curse of God's wrath], and few people are left.

24:7  The new wine mourns, the vine languishes; all the merrymakers sigh.

24:8  The mirth of the timbrels is stilled, the noise of those who rejoice ends, the joy of the lyre is stopped.

24:9  No more will they drink wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

24:10  The wasted city of emptiness {and} confusion is broken down; every house is shut up so that no one may enter.

24:11  There is crying in the streets for wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is banished {and} gone into captivity.

24:12  In the city is left desolation, and its gate is battered {and} destroyed.

24:13  For so shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking {and} beating of an olive tree, or as the gleaning when the vintage is done [and only a small amount of the fruit remains].

24:14  [But] these [who have escaped and remain] lift up their voices, they shout; for the majesty of the Lord they cry aloud from the [Mediterranean] Sea.

24:15  Wherefore glorify the Lord in the east [whether in the region of daybreak's lights and fires, or in the west]; [glorify] the name of the Lord, the God of Israel in the isles {and} coasts of the [Mediterranean] Sea.

24:16  From the uttermost parts of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the Righteous One [and to the people of Israel]! But I say, Emaciated I pine away, I pine away. Woe is me! The treacherous dealers deal treacherously! Yes, the treacherous dealers deal very treacherously.

24:17  Terror and pit [of destruction] and snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

24:18  And he who flees at the noise of the terror will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of the heavens are opened [as in the deluge], and the foundations of the earth tremble {and} shake.

24:19  The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently.

24:20  The earth shall stagger like a drunken man and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; its transgression shall lie heavily upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again.

24:21  And in that day the Lord will visit {and} punish the host of the high ones on high [the host of heaven in heaven, celestial beings] and the kings of the earth on the earth.

24:22  And they will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in a pit {or} dungeon; they will be shut up in prison, and after many days they will be visited, inspected, {and} punished {or} pardoned.

24:23  Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, when [they compare their ineffectual fire to the light of] the Lord of hosts, Who will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders will show forth His glory.