vs 1 Look! The Lord will lay waste to the place where you live… He will totally destroy it! Yes, He will uncover its face and scatter those living within it.
vs 2 Then, common people will serve as the priests; the servants will then be the masters; the handmaids will then be the ladies; those who buy will be those who sell; those who borrow will be lenders, and the debtors will be the ones who are owed.
vs 3 ‘With corruption, your land will be wasted, and by looting, your place will be plundered!’ Yes, these things were said by the mouth of the Lord.
vs 4 ‘Then your land will go into mourning, for your system of things will be ruined. ‘The land’s most important will mourn,
vs 5 for the place that’s considered so lawless… they’ll wail for the people who lived there… those who have broken God’s Laws… those who’ve wiped out and traded away the Sacred Agreement of the ages!
vs 6 ‘This curse will then devour your land; for, those who live there have sinned! Then, only the poor will be left … just a few men will remain.
vs 7 ‘So the wine will mourn and the grapevines will groan over the souls of all those to whom they once brought great joy.
vs 8 ‘Happy sounds of tambourines will have ceased, and those pleased with themselves will be gone, along with the wealth of the godless, who’ll no longer hear the sounds of the harp.
vs 9 ‘And because they’ll be shamed, they won’t drink the wine… for the liquor will be bitter to even the drunks!
vs 10 ‘Your cities will then become empty, and the houses will all be locked up, so that no one will enter thereafter.
vs 11 ‘Therefore, shriek for the wine everywhere, since the joy of the land will have ceased… yes, it will be taken away,
vs 12 And all that will be left behind is desolate cities and empty homes, which thereafter, will just waste away.
vs 13 Yes, all of these things will come to that land there in the midst of the nations. ‘In the same way that you would glean olives, is how such ones will be gleaned… as though the harvest of crops will have ceased.
vs 14 ‘So, they will cry out in loud voices… but, those who remain in the land will rejoice to the glory of God. ‘Then the waters of the seas will be shaken,
vs 15 And the glory of Jehovah will be seen on all the islands throughout the seas… and the Name of the Lord will be honored.
vs 16 ‘For, all the peoples will say: O God of Israel, Jehovah; of Your miracles, we’ve heard, throughout the whole earth, and there’s hope for those who respect You.
‘And once again, they will say: Woe to those who’ve annulled… yes, those who’ve ignored the Laws of our God,
vs 17 Since fear, the pit, and a snare have come upon those who lived in that land.
vs 18 For those fleeing in fear fell into the pit, and those climbing out were captured in snares. ‘Then the windows of the heavens will open, and the foundations of the earth will be shaken.
vs 19 Disturbance will come to the ground, and perplexity will grip the whole land.
vs 20 ‘For, it will be shaken and tipped as a horn that’s filled with the fruits of the earth… yes, it will topple and fall like someone who’s dizzy and drunk, and never be able to stand up again in that land where the lawless grew strong.
vs 21 ‘For, God will raise His hand in that day against the arrangement of the heavens, and against the kings of the earth.
vs 22 They’ll be gathered as one congregation, and in castle dungeons, they’ll be locked away, where they’ll stay through many generations.
vs 23 ‘Then the bricks will melt and the walls will all fall; the moon will be sad and the sun will be shamed; for the Lord will start reigning in Jerusalem… and before Zion’s elders, he’ll be glorified.’