God devastates the entire earth in a cosmic judgment that levels all social distinctions. The earth mourns, the city of chaos lies in ruins, and the heavens themselves are shaken — but the LORD of Hosts reigns on Mount Zion in glory.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This is the most apocalyptic chapter in First Isaiah. The scope shifts from individual nations (chs. 13-23) to the whole earth (erets appears 16 times). The social-leveling catalogue in verse 2 — priest as people, master as servant, lender as borrower — dismantles every human hierarchy in six parallel pairs. The chapter ends with an image found nowhere else: the LORD reigns on Zion 'and before His elders is glory' (v. 23), echoing the elders' vision at Sinai (Exodus 24:9-11).
Translation Friction
The phrase qiryat-tohu (v. 10, 'city of chaos') uses the same word tohu as Genesis 1:2 — the city has been un-created, returned to primordial formlessness. We preserved 'chaos' to maintain the Genesis connection. The verb navlah (v. 4, 'withers') is applied to both the earth and its people — the same decay affects land and inhabitants, a merism for total ruin.
Connections
The cosmic imagery anticipates Revelation 6:12-14 (heavens rolled up, earth shaken). The elders before God's glory (v. 23) echo both Exodus 24:9-11 and Revelation 4:4. The 'everlasting covenant' broken (v. 5) refers back to the Noahic covenant (Genesis 9:16), suggesting that humanity has violated the most basic terms of existence.
Look — the LORD is about to empty the earth and lay it waste.
He will twist its surface
and scatter its inhabitants.
KJV Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb boqeq ('emptying') and the related bolqah ('laying waste') create an assonant pair — the repeated 'b-q' sounds mirror the devastation described. The scope is universal: ha'arets ('the earth/land') governs the entire chapter.
Hinneh ('look') signals that what follows is imminent and certain, not hypothetical. We rendered it 'look' rather than the archaic 'behold.'
It will be the same
for the people as for the priest,
for the servant as for his master,
for the maid as for her mistress,
for the buyer as for the seller,
for the lender as for the borrower,
for the creditor as for the debtor.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Six parallel pairs systematically dismantle every social hierarchy: religious (people/priest), domestic (servant/master, maid/mistress), and economic (buyer/seller, lender/borrower, creditor/debtor). No one is exempt from the coming devastation.
The earth will be utterly emptied,
utterly plundered —
for the LORD has spoken this word.
KJV The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The doubled infinitive absolutes (hibboq tibboq, hibboz tibboz) intensify both verbs: 'emptying it will be emptied, plundering it will be plundered.' We rendered this with 'utterly' to capture the emphasis. The closing formula 'for the LORD has spoken' (ki YHWH dibber) seals the oracle with divine authority.
The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers.
The exalted of the earth's people languish.
KJV The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb navlah ('withers, fades') is applied to both the physical earth and its human inhabitants — the same decay afflicts both. The Hebrew uses four verbs in rapid succession (avelah, navlah, umlalah, navlah) creating a cascade of decline. The 'exalted of the earth's people' (merom am-ha'arets) refers to the ruling class, now brought low.
The earth is polluted beneath its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed instructions,
violated the decree,
broken the everlasting covenant.
KJV The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
בְּרִית עוֹלָםberit olam
"everlasting covenant"—eternal covenant, perpetual covenant, covenant of eternity
The phrase berit olam appears in Genesis 9:16 (Noah), Genesis 17:7 (Abraham), and Exodus 31:16 (Sabbath). Here it governs the entire earth, pointing to the Noahic covenant as the baseline agreement between God and all creation.
Translator Notes
The verb chanfah ('polluted, defiled') describes moral contamination that affects the physical land — a Deuteronomic concept (Numbers 35:33, Jeremiah 3:1-2). The three violations escalate: transgressed instructions (torot), violated the decree (choq), broken the everlasting covenant (berit olam).
The 'everlasting covenant' most likely refers to the Noahic covenant (Genesis 9:16), the only covenant explicitly called olam that applies to all humanity. Some scholars see a reference to cosmic moral order rather than a specific covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants bear their guilt.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few people remain.
KJV Therefore 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The alah ('curse') is not arbitrary punishment but the activated consequence of covenant violation — the curses of Deuteronomy 28 made cosmic. The verb charu ('are scorched/burned') connects to the fire imagery throughout the chapter. The remnant motif appears: 'few people remain' (nishar enosh mizar).
The new wine mourns,
the vine languishes;
all who were glad at heart now sigh.
KJV The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The personification of wine and vine mourning extends the agricultural catastrophe into the social sphere — wine represents celebration, and its failure means the end of joy. The phrase simchei-lev ('glad of heart') describes those whose lives were built around festivity.
The joyful tambourines have ceased,
the noise of the revelers has stopped,
the joyful lyre has ceased.
KJV The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three instruments of celebration are silenced: tuppim (tambourines/hand-drums), the tumult of alizzim (revelers/exultant ones), and kinnor (lyre/harp). The verb shavat ('ceased') echoes the Sabbath — but this is a cessation of joy, not a rest.
No longer do they drink wine with singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
KJV They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The reversal is complete: wine, which symbolized celebration throughout the ancient Near East, now tastes bitter. The verb yemar ('is bitter') from the root m-r-r connects to Naomi's self-renaming as Mara ('bitter,' Ruth 1:20).
The city of chaos is broken;
every house is shut, none may enter.
KJV The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The identity of qiryat-tohu ('city of chaos') is debated — Babylon, Jerusalem, or an archetypal city representing all human pride. The deliberate vagueness may be the point: in apocalyptic judgment, every city becomes the city of chaos.
The word tohu ('chaos, formlessness, emptiness') appears in Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:23, always signifying the undoing of creation's order.
There is an outcry in the streets over the wine;
all joy has grown dark;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
KJV There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb arvah ('has grown dark, has set') uses sunset imagery for joy — gladness has gone below the horizon. The verb galah ('banished, exiled') is the same word used for the exile of a people, applied here to joy itself: happiness has been deported from the land.
Desolation remains in the city;
the gate is battered to ruins.
KJV In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The gate — the center of civic life, commerce, and justice in an ancient city — is destroyed. The word shammah ('desolation') and she'iyyah ('ruin') create a rhyming pair emphasizing total devastation.
For so it will be in the midst of the earth,
among the peoples:
like the beating of an olive tree,
like the gleaning when the grape harvest is over.
KJV When 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The olive-beating and grape-gleaning metaphor signals that after judgment, only a remnant survives — the few olives left on the highest branches, the few clusters missed by the harvesters. The same imagery appears in 17:6. This is not total annihilation but devastating reduction.
They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they cry out
for the majesty of the LORD.
KJV They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The sudden shift to praise is startling after 13 verses of devastation. The remnant that survives (v. 13) lifts its voice in worship. The phrase miyyam ('from the sea/west') indicates the western regions — the Mediterranean coastlands. The 'majesty of the LORD' (ge'on YHWH) uses a word that elsewhere describes human pride now rightly applied only to God.
Therefore in the east glorify the LORD;
in the coastlands of the sea,
glorify the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
KJV Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word ba'urim is debated: 'in the fires' (from ur, 'fire/light') or 'in the east' (from or, 'light,' meaning the region of sunrise). We rendered 'in the east' to parallel 'the coastlands of the sea' (west), creating a merism: from east to west, all glorify the LORD. The full title 'the LORD, the God of Israel' grounds universal worship in Israel's covenant God.
From the ends of the earth we hear songs:
"Glory to the Righteous One!"
But I say, "I waste away! I waste away!
Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
The treacherous utterly betray!"
KJV From 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The prophet's personal anguish interrupts the universal praise. While the ends of the earth sing 'glory to the Righteous One' (tsevi latsaddiq), the prophet cries razi-li razi-li ('my wasting, my wasting' or 'my secret, my secret'). The word razi is debated: from razah ('to waste away, grow lean') or raz ('secret, mystery'). We chose 'I waste away' for the more natural reading.
The triple repetition of the root b-g-d ('betray, deal treacherously') — bogdim bagadu, beged bogdim bagadu — is untranslatable wordplay. We preserved the repetition to echo the Hebrew's relentless hammering.
Terror, pit, and trap
await you, O inhabitant of the earth!
KJV Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The triple alliteration pachad, pachat, pach ('terror, pit, trap') is one of Isaiah's most striking sound effects — three words beginning with the same consonant cluster, each one a step closer to capture. The alliteration is untranslatable; we preserved the three nouns and noted the Hebrew wordplay.
Whoever flees from the sound of terror
will fall into the pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For the windows of heaven are opened,
and the foundations of the earth tremble.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The escape-proof sequence continues the pachad/pachat/pach alliteration from v. 17: flee the terror, fall in the pit; escape the pit, caught in the trap. There is no escape from divine judgment.
The 'windows of heaven' (arubbot mimarom) echo the flood narrative (Genesis 7:11) — the same language describes cosmic catastrophe. The foundations of the earth shaking connects to the flood and to Sinai theophany.
The earth is utterly shattered;
the earth is split apart;
the earth is violently shaken.
KJV The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three doubled infinitive absolutes in succession: ro'ah hitro'a'ah ('shattering it is shattered'), por hitporrah ('splitting it is split apart'), mot hitmottatah ('shaking it is shaken'). The threefold repetition of erets ('earth') hammers the point: this is total, cosmic undoing.
The earth staggers like a drunkard,
sways like a hut in the wind.
Its transgression weighs heavy upon it;
it falls and will not rise again.
KJV The 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The drunkard simile is vivid: the earth itself reels (nu'a tanu'a, another doubled infinitive). The melunah ('hut, lodge, shelter') is a flimsy field-shelter that sways in every wind — the solid earth has become as fragile as a temporary booth. The verb kavad ('is heavy') — the same root as kavod ('glory') — here describes the crushing weight of accumulated sin.
On that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven in the heights
and the kings of the earth on the earth.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The judgment extends to both cosmic and earthly rulers: tseva hamarom ('the host of heaven/the heights') refers to celestial powers — whether angelic beings, astral deities worshipped by the nations, or both. The pairing of heavenly and earthly judgment anticipates the apocalyptic worldview of Daniel and Revelation.
They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a dungeon,
shut up in a prison;
and after many days they will be visited.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb yippaqedu ('will be visited') is ambiguous: paqad can mean 'to visit' for judgment or for mercy. After 'many days' of imprisonment, God returns to these imprisoned powers — whether for final judgment or surprising mercy, the text does not specify. We preserved the ambiguity.
The moon will be humiliated
and the sun ashamed,
for the LORD of Hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before His elders — glory.
KJV Then 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
כָּבוֹדkavod
"glory"—glory, honor, weight, splendor, radiance
Kavod is the visible manifestation of God's presence — the same glory that filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35) and Solomon's temple (1 Kings 8:11). Here it outshines the sun and moon.
Translator Notes
The personification of moon and sun as 'humiliated' and 'ashamed' uses emotional language for celestial bodies — their light is eclipsed by God's glory, making them embarrassed by comparison.
The phrase 'before His elders' (neged zeqenav) echoes the Sinai theophany where the seventy elders saw God and ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11). The same council of elders appears in Revelation 4:4.
The chapter ends on kavod ('glory') — the weight of God's manifest presence. This single word answers the entire chapter's devastation: the earth is unmade so that God's glory can be fully revealed.