2. people and priest alike,servant and master,female servant and mistress,buyer and seller,lender and borrower,creditor and debtor.
3. The earth will be stripped completely bareand will be totally plundered,for the Lord has spoken this message.
4. The earth mourns and withers;the world wastes away and withers;the exalted people of the earth waste away.
5. The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings,overstepped decrees,and broken the everlasting covenant.
6. Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty;the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,and only a few survive.
7. The new wine mourns; the vine withers.All the carousers now groan.
8. The joyful tambourines have ceased.The noise of the jubilant has stopped.The joyful lyre has ceased.
9. They no longer sing and drink wine;beer is bitter to those who drink it.
10. The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
11. In the streets they cry for wine.All joy grows dark;earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.
12. Only desolation remains in the city;its gate has collapsed in ruins.
13. For this is how it will be on earthamong the nations:like a harvested olive tree,like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
14. They raise their voices, they sing out;they proclaim in the westthe majesty of the Lord.
15. Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!In the islands of the westhonor the name of Yahweh,the God of Israel.
16. From the ends of the earth we hear songs:The Splendor of the Righteous One. But I said, “I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me.”The treacherous act treacherously;the treacherous deal very treacherously.