Isaiah 24:18

18 And it shall be, he that shall flee from the face of fearedfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he that shall deliver himself from the ditch, shall be holden of the snare; for why the windows of high things be opened, and the foundaments of [the] earth shall be shaken together. (And it shall be, that he who shall flee from the face of fearfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he who shall get himself out of the ditch, shall be caught by the snare; for the windows of the high places, or of the heavens, be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be altogether shaken.)

Isaiah 24:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 24:18

And it shall come to pass, [that] he who fleeth from the
noise of the fear
From the fearful noise that will be made, the voices and thunderings heard in the heavens above, the sea and waves roaring below; or from wars, and rumours of wars, and terrible armies approaching and pursuing, ( Luke 21:25 ) ( Matthew 24:6 Matthew 24:7 ) or rather at the report of an object to be feared and dreaded by wicked men, even the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, ( Revelation 1:7 ) : shall fall into the pit;
of ruin and destruction, dug for the wicked, ( Psalms 94:13 ) just as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into the slime pits, when they fled from their conquerors, ( Genesis 14:10 ) : and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in
the snare;
the meaning is, that he that escapes one trouble should fall into another, so that there will be no safety anywhere. Jarchi's note is,

``he that escapes the sword of Messiah ben Joseph, shall fall upon the sword of Messiah ben David; and he that escapes from thence shall be taken in a snare in the war of Gog:''

for the windows from on high are open;
not hereby signifying, as Jerom thinks, that the Lord would now see all the sins of men, which, because he did not punish before, he seemed by sinners to be ignorant of; but the allusion is to the opening of the windows of heaven at the time of the deluge, ( Genesis 7:11 ) and intimates, that the wrath of God should be revealed from heaven, and the severest judgments be denounced, made manifest, and come down from thence in a very visible, public, and terrible manner, like an overflowing tempest of rain: and the foundations of the earth do shake:
very probably the dissolution of the world may be attended with a general earthquake; or this may denote the dread and terror that will seize the inhabitants of it.

Isaiah 24:18 In-Context

16 From the ends of [the] earth we have heard praisings, the glory of the just. And I said, My private to me, my private to me (But I said, Treasons! treasons!). Woe to me, [the] trespassers have trespassed, and have trespassed by [the] trespassing of (the) breakers of the law.

17 Fearedfulness, and a ditch, and a snare on thee, that art a dweller of [the] earth. (Let fearfulness, and a ditch, and a snare be upon thee, who art an inhabitant of the land.)

18 And it shall be, he that shall flee from the face of fearedfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he that shall deliver himself from the ditch, shall be holden of the snare; for why the windows of high things be opened, and the foundaments of [the] earth shall be shaken together. (And it shall be, that he who shall flee from the face of fearfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he who shall get himself out of the ditch, shall be caught by the snare; for the windows of the high places, or of the heavens, be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be altogether shaken.)

19 The earth shall be broken with breaking, the earth shall be defouled with defouling (the earth shall be defiled with defiling), the earth shall be moved with moving,

20 the earth shall be shaken with shaking, as a drunken man. And it shall be taken away, as the tabernacle of one night (like a tent in the night), and the wickedness thereof shall grieve it; and it shall fall down, and it shall not add, for to rise again.