1 Behold, the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge} is emptying {boqek: draining bare} the earth and leaving it ruined; He distorts its face and drives its inhabitants in every direction.
2 No distinction will be made based on status: people and priests alike; servants and masters alike; maidservants {shifchah: female bondservant} and mistresses alike; buyers and sellers alike; lenders and borrowers alike; creditors {nosheh: debt collector} and debtors alike.
3 The land will be emptied clean, and it will be plundered bare, because the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge} has declared this word {davar: authoritative decree}.
4 The earth mourns {avlah: deeply lamented} and withers; the world droops and withers; the lofty ones of the people of the earth {am-ha’aretz: collective populace} languish.
5 The earth has become defiled {chanfah: profaned} beneath its inhabitants, for they have crossed the boundaries of the laws, altered the ordinance, and shattered the everlasting covenant {berit: binding agreement}.
6 Therefore the curse {alah: divine judgment} consumes the earth, and those who dwell in it are held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men {enosh: mortal man} remain.
7 The new wine mourns; the vine languishes; and all the merry-hearted {simchei-lev: inward rejoicing} groan {ne’enchu: utter anguish}.
8 The joy {mesos: outward rejoicing} of tambourines has fallen silent; the clamor of those who celebrate has stopped; the joy of the harp {kinnor: stringed instrument used in worship} is quiet.
9 They will not drink wine along with singing {bashir: celebratory accompaniment}; strong drink {shekhar: intoxicating beverage} will taste bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of desolation {tohu: complete disorder} lies shattered; every house is barred so that entry is blocked {mibo: forbidden coming in}.
11 A cry {tzavachah: public lament} is heard in the streets over the wine; all joy is darkened {arvah: made gloomy}, and the rejoicing of the land has departed.
12 What remains in the city is desolation {shamah: Ruined Emptiness}, and the gate {sha’ar: City Entrance} is battered into devastation.
13 For this is how it will be in the middle of the land among the peoples: like an olive tree {zayit: symbol of abundance} after it has been beaten, like gleanings {olelot: leftover clusters} left behind when the harvest is finished.
14 They lift up their voice and sing; they shout from the sea {yam: sea, west} because of the majesty of the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Exalter}.
15 Therefore, in the regions of light {ba’urim: in the east, where light rises} honor the LORD {YHWH, Universal Sovereign}; in the coastlands of the sea exalt the name of the LORD God of Israel.
16 From the edge {miknaf: boundary point} of the earth we have heard songs: “Glory to the righteous.” But I said, “My leanness, my leanness; woe is me! Treacherous ones have dealt treacherously, and with betrayal {veged: act of treachery} the betrayers have dealt very treacherously.”
17 Terror and the pit and the snare {pach: trap} are upon you, O inhabitant {yoshev: one who dwells} of the earth.
18 It will happen that whoever runs from the sound of terror {pachad: overwhelming dread} will drop into the pit, and whoever emerges from the pit will be taken in the snare {pach: trap for prey}; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken {ro’ah: violently disrupted}; the earth is torn apart; the earth trembles {mot: stirred by force} violently.
20 The earth totters, reeling like a drunkard {shikor: erratic motion}, and it sways like a hut. Its transgression {pish’ah: persistent rebellion} weighs on it, and it collapses and will not rise again.
21 And it will be in that day that the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge} will punish the host of the height {tzva hamarom: exalted powers} in the height, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they will be gathered together as a gathering {asefa: mass gathering} of prisoners into a pit, and they will be shut up in a dungeon, and after many days they will be visited {yippakedu: call to account}.
23 The moon will be humiliated, and the sun put to shame, for the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Supreme Ruler} will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and glory {kavod: manifested honor} will stand before His elders.