Isaiah 24:4–12

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.