UNROLL
A wide land at dusk under heavy gray light: fields gone to cracked dust, a dead vine on a broken terrace wall in front, an empty village far off.

The whole earth

Isaiah 24

Priest and people, buyer and seller stand on the same shaking ground. What holds when the earth itself gives way?

23 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed upChapter 24
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

God’s Judgment on the Earth

Isaiah
A vast land under a low brown haze: terraced fields buckled and slid, a village of flat-roofed houses standing empty, a dry riverbed winding away.

Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth

and leaves it in ruins.

He will twist its surface

and scatter its inhabitants—

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah

people and priest alike, servant and master,

maid and mistress, buyer and seller,

lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

Isaiah

The earth will be utterly laid waste

and thoroughly plundered.

For the LORD has spoken this word.

Isaiah

The earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and fades;

the exalted of the earth waste away.

Isaiah

The earth is defiled by its people;

they have transgressed the laws;

they have overstepped the decrees

and broken the everlasting covenant.

Isaiah

Therefore 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.

Question

Quick question

Isaiah gives the reason for the earth’s ruin in verse 5. Read it again before you answer.

Why is the earth laid waste?

Isaiah
Isaiah

The new wine dries up, the vine withers.

All the merrymakers now groan.

Isaiah
A small wooden lyre with gut strings and a simple reed flute lying on a worn mat at the mouth of an empty black tent, ash blown over them in gray light.

The joyful tambourines have ceased;

the noise of revelers has stopped;

the joyful harp is silent.

Isaiah

They no longer sing and drink wine;

strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.

Isaiah
Dusk in an empty town lane: every house door shut and barred with a wooden beam, dust drifted against the thresholds, no lamp in any window.

The city of chaos is shattered;

every house is closed to entry.

Isaiah

In the streets they cry out for wine.

All joy turns to gloom;

rejoicing is exiled from the land.

Isaiah
Isaiah

The city is left in ruins;

its gate is reduced to rubble.

Isaiah
Isaiah

So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

Isaiah

They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.

Isaiah

Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.

Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel

in the islands of the sea.

Isaiah

From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

Isaiah 24:16

Isaiah

But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!

Woe is me.”

The treacherous betray;

the treacherous deal in treachery.

Isaiah

Terror and pit and snare await you,

O dweller of the earth.

Isaiah
Isaiah

Whoever flees the sound of panic

will fall into the pit,

and whoever climbs from the pit

will be caught in the snare.

Isaiah

For the windows of heaven are open,

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Isaiah

The earth is utterly broken apart,

the earth is split open,

the earth is shaken violently.

Isaiah
A gale over an open field: a flimsy watchman’s hut of poles and branches leaning hard in the wind, its roof of leaves tearing loose, dust blowing.

The earth staggers like a drunkard

and sways like a shack.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

Isaiah

In that day the LORD will punish

the host of heaven above

and the kings of the earth below.

Isaiah

They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.

They will be confined to a dungeon

and punished after many days.

Isaiah
Dawn over Jerusalem on its ridge: a pale moon fading in the west, the eastern sky brightening to gold over the temple height, the city still in shadow.

The 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.

0:12

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

Righteous One, when the earth shakes, You still reign on Zion. Even when I cry “Woe is me,” teach me to sing Your glory with the ends of the earth. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 24

0 of 66 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.”

Isaiah 24:16

or swipe left