The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Danger ahead! God's about to ravish the earth and leave it in ruins, Rip everything out by the roots and send everyone scurrying:
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Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
2 Priests and laypeople alike, owners and workers alike, celebrities and nobodies alike, buyers and sellers alike, bankers and beggars alike, the haves and have-nots alike.
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And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, 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 creditor, so with the debtor.
3 The landscape will be a moonscape, totally wasted. And why? Because God says so. He's issued the orders.
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The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word.
4 The earth turns gaunt and gray, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colorless. Earth Polluted by Its Very Own People
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The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
5 Earth is polluted by its very own people, who have broken its laws, Disrupted its order, violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
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The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse, like a cancer, ravages the earth. Its people pay the price of their sacrilege. They dwindle away, dying out one by one.
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Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
7 No more wine, no more vineyards, no more songs or singers.
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The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The laughter of castanets is gone, the shouts of celebrants, gone, the laughter of fiddles, gone.
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The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
9 No more parties with toasts of champagne. Serious drinkers gag on their drinks.
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No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns. Every house is boarded up, condemned.
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The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter.
11 People riot in the streets for wine, but the good times are gone forever - no more joy for this old world.
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There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
12 The city is dead and deserted, bulldozed into piles of rubble.
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Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins.
13 That's the way it will be on this earth. This is the fate of all nations: An olive tree shaken clean of its olives, a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.
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For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
14 But there are some who will break into glad song. Out of the west they'll shout of God's majesty.
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They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.
15 Yes, from the east God's glory will ascend. Every island of the sea Will broadcast God's fame, the fame of the God of Israel.
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Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
16 From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing: "All praise to the Righteous One!" But I said, "That's all well and good for somebody, but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom." All of them at one another's throats, yes, all of them at one another's throats.
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From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, "I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed."
17 Terror and pits and booby traps are everywhere, whoever you are.
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Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18 If you run from the terror, you'll fall into the pit. If you climb out of the pit, you'll get caught in the trap. Chaos pours out of the skies. The foundations of earth are crumbling.
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He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
19 Earth is smashed to pieces, earth is ripped to shreds, earth is wobbling out of control,
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The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.
20 Earth staggers like a drunk, sways like a shack in a high wind. Its piled-up sins are too much for it. It collapses and won't get up again.
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The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.
21 That's when God will call on the carpet rebel powers in the skies and Rebel kings on earth.
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On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
22 They'll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail, Corralled and locked up in a jail, and then sentenced and put to hard labor.
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They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.
23 Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated, red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced, Because God-of-the-Angel-Armies will take over, ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem, Splendid and glorious before all his leaders.
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Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.