The Prophets · Old Testament
Isaiah 24
Isaiah 24: the Lord empties the earth and reigns in Zion
General context
The chapter announces that the Lord makes the earth empty and waste, turns it upside down and scatters its inhabitants. Every rank is levelled: people and priest, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower. The land will be utterly emptied, because the Lord has spoken. The earth mourns and fades, and its haughty people languish; it is defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance and broken the everlasting covenant. A curse devours the earth, its inhabitants are burned and few men are left. Wine mourns, the vine languishes, music ceases, and strong drink turns bitter. The city of confusion is broken down, every house shut, and the gate smitten. What remains is compared to the shaking of an olive tree and gleaning grapes. Then voices sing for the majesty of the Lord from the sea, and the hearers are told to glorify the Lord in the fires and in the isles. Songs come from the uttermost part of the earth, but the speaker breaks in with a cry of leanness and woe over treacherous dealers. Fear, pit and snare are upon the inhabitant of the earth; whoever flees one falls into the next, as the windows on high open and the foundations shake. The earth reels like a drunkard and falls, not to rise again. In that day the Lord punishes the host of the high ones on high and the kings of the earth, gathering them like prisoners in a pit, to be visited after many days. Then the moon is confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts reigns in mount Zion and Jerusalem before his ancients.
Cited passages: Isaiah 24:1, Isaiah 24:2, Isaiah 24:3, Isaiah 24:4, Isaiah 24:5, Isaiah 24:6, Isaiah 24:7, Isaiah 24:8, Isaiah 24:10, Isaiah 24:12, Isaiah 24:13, Isaiah 24:14, Isaiah 24:15, Isaiah 24:16, Isaiah 24:17, Isaiah 24:18, Isaiah 24:20, Isaiah 24:21, Isaiah 24:22, Isaiah 24:23
Isaiah 24 (KJV)
1Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2And it shall 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 lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
3The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.
4The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
7The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
8The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
9They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
11There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
12In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
13When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
14They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
15Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
16From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
17Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
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Historical context
Unlike the burdens that run from the burden of Babylon in 13:1 to the burden of Tyre in 23:1, this chapter names no nation as its addressee. Its subject is the earth, the land and the world; the city that is broken down is called only the city of confusion, and the only city named is Jerusalem, in the final verse. The reason given for the devastation is legal and covenantal: the inhabitants have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance and broken the everlasting covenant. The text does not say which covenant is meant or which laws. Two groups are punished in that day, the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth, and the text does not identify the first group further. The speaker shifts: most of the chapter describes the earth in the third person, but verse 16 has a first-person cry, and the speaker is not named. The only places named are the sea, the isles of the sea, mount Zion and Jerusalem, and the chapter names no king, no date and no event. Verse 23 leads directly into the song of praise that opens chapter 25.
Cited passages: Isaiah 24:1, Isaiah 13:1, Isaiah 23:1, Isaiah 24:10, Isaiah 24:5, Isaiah 24:21, Isaiah 24:16, Isaiah 24:15, Isaiah 24:23
Literary context
The poem is built on repetition. The earth is the grammatical subject again and again: it mourns and fades, it is defiled, it is utterly broken down, clean dissolved, moved exceedingly, and it reels like a drunkard. Verse 2 sets six paired ranks in a single sentence so that no class escapes. Sounds of joy are listed only to be silenced: tabrets, rejoicing and harp cease, and wine goes without a song. The chapter then turns from silence to singing in verses 14 to 16, but the singing is interrupted by the first-person cry of leanness and the doubled word treacherous. Verses 17 and 18 form a chain in which fear, pit and snare follow one another so that escape from one leads into the next. The chapter ends with the sun and moon shamed by a brighter reign in Zion, which sets up the praise of chapter 25. The images of wine and vine mourning here are answered by the feast of wines on the lees in the next chapter.
Cited passages: Isaiah 24:4, Isaiah 24:5, Isaiah 24:19, Isaiah 24:20, Isaiah 24:2, Isaiah 24:9, Isaiah 24:14, Isaiah 24:16, Isaiah 24:18, Isaiah 24:23, Isaiah 25:6
Key moments
- The earth turned upside down (Isaiah 24:1). The Lord empties the earth, makes it waste and scatters its inhabitants.
- Every rank alike (Isaiah 24:2). Priest and people, master and servant, buyer and seller face the same fate.
- The broken covenant (Isaiah 24:5). The earth is defiled because its inhabitants broke laws, ordinance and everlasting covenant.
- Music ceases (Isaiah 24:8). Tabrets, rejoicing and harp fall silent as joy is darkened.
- A cry amid the songs (Isaiah 24:16). Songs of glory are heard, but the speaker cries out over treacherous dealers.
- Fear, pit and snare (Isaiah 24:18). Whoever flees one terror falls into the next as the foundations shake.
- The Lord reigns in Zion (Isaiah 24:23). Sun and moon are shamed when the Lord of hosts reigns in mount Zion and Jerusalem.
For reflection
Songs of glory come from the ends of the earth, and the speaker answers with a cry of leanness and woe over treachery. What does it mean to hear both at once, and why does the text place the cry in the middle of the singing?
