Isaiah 24
BSB
God’s Judgment on the Earth
1Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth
and leaves it in ruins.
He will twist its surface
and scatter its inhabitants—
2people and priest alike, servant and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
3The earth will be utterly laid waste
and thoroughly plundered.
For the LORD has spoken this word.
4The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and fades;
the exalted of the earth waste away.
5The earth is defiled by its people;
they have transgressed the laws;
they have overstepped the decrees
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;
the earth’s dwellers have been burned,
and only a few survive.
7The new wine dries up, the vine withers.
All the merrymakers now groan.
8The joyful tambourines have ceased;
the noise of revelers has stopped;
the joyful harp is silent.
9They no longer sing and drink wine;
strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.
10The city of chaos is shattered;
every house is closed to entry.
11In the streets they cry out for wine.
All joy turns to gloom;
rejoicing is exiled from the land.
12The city is left in ruins;
its gate is reduced to rubble.
13So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.
15Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.
Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel
in the islands of the sea.
16From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!
Woe is me.”
The treacherous betray;
the treacherous deal in treachery.
17Terror and pit and snare await you,
O dweller of the earth.
18Whoever flees the sound of panic
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs from the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are open,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
19The earth is utterly broken apart,
the earth is split open,
the earth is shaken violently.
20The earth staggers like a drunkard
and sways like a shack.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.
21In that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven above
and the kings of the earth below.
22They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.
They will be confined to a dungeon
and punished after many days.
23The moon will be confounded
and the sun will be ashamed;
for the LORD of Hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before His elders with great glory.
Introduction
Isaiah 24
It is agreed that here begins a new sermon, which is continued to the end of Isa 27:1-13. And in it the prophet, according to the directions he had received, does, in many precious promises, "say to the righteous, It shall be well with them;" and, in many dreadful threatenings, he says, "Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them" (Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11); and these are interwoven, that they may illustrate each other. This chapter is mostly threatening; and, as the judgments threatened are very sore and grievous ones, so the people threatened with those judgments are very many. It is not the burden of any particular city or kingdom, as those before, but the burden of the whole earth. The word indeed signifies only the land, because our own land is commonly to us as all the earth. But it is here explained by another word that is not so confined; it is the world (Isa 24:4); so that it must at least take in a whole neighbourhood of nations. 1. Some think (and very probably) that it is a prophecy of the great havoc that Sennacherib and his Assyrian army should now shortly make of many of the nations in that part of the world. 2. Others make it to point at the like devastations which, about 100 years afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies should make in the same countries, going from one kingdom to another, not only to conquer them, but to ruin them and lay them waste; for that was the method which those eastern nations took in their wars. The promises that are mixed with the threatenings are intended for the support and comfort of the people of God in those very calamitous times. And, since here are no particular nations names either by whom or on whom those desolations should be brought, I see not but it may refer to both these events. Nay, the scripture has many fulfillings, and we ought to give it its full latitude; and therefore I incline to think that the prophet, from those and the like instances which he had a particular eye to, designs here to represent in general the calamitous state of mankind, and the many miseries which human life is liable to, especially those that attend the wars of the nations. Surely the prophets were sent, not only to foretel particular events, but to form the minds of men to virtue and piety, and for that end their prophecies were written and preserved even for our learning, and therefore ought not to be looked upon as of private interpretation. Now since a thorough conviction of the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency to make us happy, will go far towards bringing us to God, and drawing out our affections towards another world, the prophet here shows what vexation of spirit we must expect to meet with in these things, that we may never take up our rest in them, nor promise ourselves satisfaction any where short of the enjoyment of God. In this chapter we have, I. A threatening of desolating judgments for sin (Isa 24:1-12), to which is added an assurance that in the midst of them good people should be comforted (Isa 24:13-15). II. A further threatening of the like desolations (Isa 24:16-22), to which is added an assurance that in the midst of all God should be glorified.
Cross-references: Isa 27:1 · Isa 3:10 · Isa 3:11 · Isa 24:4 · Isa 24:1 · Isa 24:13 · Isa 24:16