Isaías 24

ARC · Chapter 24/66

1Eis que o Senhor esvazia a terra, e a desola, e transtorna a sua face, e espalha os seus moradores.

2E assim como fôr o povo, assim será o sacerdote; como o servo, assim o seu senhor; como a serva, assim a sua senhora; como o comprador, assim o vendedor; como o que empresta, assim o que toma emprestado; como o que dá usura, assim o que toma usura.

3De todo se esvaziará a terra, e de todo será saqueada, porque o Senhor pronunciou esta palavra.

4A terra pranteia e se murcha: o mundo enfraquece e se murcha: enfraquecem os mais altos do povo da terra.

5Porque a terra está contaminada por causa dos seus moradores; porquanto trespassam as leis, mudam os estatutos, e aniquilam a alliança eterna.

6Por isso a maldição consome a terra; e os que habitam n'ella serão desolados; por isso serão queimados os moradores da terra, e poucos homens ficarão de resto.

7Pranteia o mosto, enfraquece a vida; e suspirarão todos os alegres de coração.

8Já cessou o folguedo dos tamboris, acabou o arruido dos que pulam de prazer, e descançou a alegria da harpa.

9Com cantares não beberão vinho; a bebida forte será amarga para os que a beberem.

10Já demolida está a cidade vazia, todas as casas fecharam, ninguem já pode entrar.

11Um lastimoso clamor por causa do vinho se ouve nas ruas: toda a alegria se escureceu, já se desterrou o gozo da terra.

12Desolação ainda ficou de resto na cidade, e com estalidos se quebra a porta.

13Porque assim será no interior da terra, e no meio d'estes povos, como a sacudidura da oliveira, e como os rabiscos, quando está acabada a vindima.

14Estes alçarão a sua voz, e cantarão com alegria; e por causa da gloria do Senhor exultarão desde o mar

15Por isso glorificae ao Senhor nos valles, e nas ilhas do mar ao nome do Senhor Deus d'Israel.

16Dos ultimos fins da terra ouvimos psalmos para gloria do Justo; porém agora digo eu: Emmagreço, emmagreço, ai de mim! os perfidos tratam perfidamente, e com perfidia tratam os perfidos perfidamente.

17O temor, e a cova, e o laço veem sobre ti, ó morador da terra.

18E será que aquelle que fugir da voz do temor cairá na cova, e o que subir da cova o laço o prenderá; porque já as janellas do alto se abrem, e os fundamentos da terra tremerão.

19De todo será quebrantada a terra, de todo se romperá a terra, e de todo se moverá a terra.

20De todo balanceará a terra como o bebado, e será movida e removida como a choça de noite; e a sua transgressão se aggravará sobre ella, e cairá, e nunca mais se levantará.

21E será que n'aquelle dia o Senhor visitará os exercitos do alto na altura, e os reis da terra sobre a terra.

22E juntamente serão amontoados como presos n'uma masmorra, e serão encarcerados n'um carcere: e outra vez serão visitados depois de muitos dias.

23E a lua se envergonhará, e o sol se confundirá quando o Senhor dos Exercitos reinar no monte de Sião e em Jerusalem; e então perante os seus anciãos haverá gloria.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Isaiah describes a cosmic, universal judgment: the whole earth will be emptied and laid waste because of human corruption, which 'broke the everlasting covenant.' Despite the total desolation, a group of faithful people will continue praising God from the ends of the earth.

Explanation

This chapter begins a section scholars know as the 'Isaiah Apocalypse' (chapters 24-27), with language more universal and cosmic than the specific prophecies against nations in the previous chapters. The idea of a broken 'everlasting covenant' probably refers to the basic moral laws given to humanity (as in Genesis 9, with Noah), suggesting that moral corruption affects all creation, not just one nation. The image of 'the windows from on high' opening and the earth 'reeling like a drunkard' uses language of total chaos, reflecting how sin destabilizes even the natural order. The application for today is recognizing that a society's moral choices have consequences that go beyond the individual, affecting the whole community and even creation itself.

Fun facts

  • The expression 'everlasting covenant' (v.5) probably refers back to God's covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:16, the oldest and most universal divine commitment recorded with all of humanity, not just Israel.
  • Scholars call chapters 24 through 27 the 'Little Apocalypse of Isaiah' for their visionary, universal style, similar to what would later appear in Daniel and Revelation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 24:1Unlike the previous chapters, which targeted specific nations, this chapter speaks of a judgment on the whole earth. That is why it is often called Isaiah’s little apocalypse, looking beyond any one particular empire.
  2. Isaías 24:2The coming destruction will spare no one because of social status: priest and people, servant and master, buyer and seller, lender and borrower — all will suffer the same fate equally.
  3. Isaías 24:3Confirms that the earth will be completely emptied and plundered, and that this is not just any threat, but a word the LORD Himself has spoken.
  4. Isaías 24:4The whole earth is described as mourning and withering away, and even the most important among the people lose their strength — the devastation reaches both the environment and the highest-status people.
  5. Isaías 24:5Saying that the people have broken the “everlasting covenant” is a serious accusation: breaking not just specific laws, but the very pact understood as the foundation of world order. The text does not specify exactly which covenant, and this is still debated among scholars today.
  6. Isaías 24:6As a result of the moral corruption described in the previous verse, a curse consumes the earth, its inhabitants suffer, many are burned, and only a small group survives.
  7. Isaías 24:7New wine, a symbol of feasting and abundance, loses its joy, and everyone who used to be cheerful now sighs with sadness.
  8. Isaías 24:8All music and celebration cease: tambourines silenced, festivities ended, harps stopped — the complete opposite of a society at play.
  9. Isaías 24:9Even drinking wine loses its charm, with no more songs to go along with it, and strong drink turns bitter to those who drink it — the natural joy of drinking turns into something unpleasant.
  10. Isaías 24:10The city, once bustling, appears demolished and empty, with every house shut up and no one able to enter anymore.
  11. Isaías 24:11In the streets, there is only crying over the lack of wine, and all joy has disappeared from the land — the economic and social devastation reaches even the simplest everyday pleasures.
  12. Isaías 24:12Only desolation remains in the city, and even the gates are smashed to pieces — an image of complete structural abandonment.
  13. Isaías 24:13Compares what is left of the population to olives left over after the tree is shaken, or grapes forgotten after the harvest — a very small remnant scattered among the peoples.
  14. Isaías 24:14But even this small remnant will lift up their voice in joy, singing for the majesty of the LORD from the sea — an unexpected turn of hope in the middle of devastation.
  15. Isaías 24:15Continues the call: let God be glorified both in the valleys and in the farthest islands of the sea, reaching every corner of the earth.
  16. Isaías 24:16From distant corners come songs of praise to the Righteous One, but the prophet himself interrupts with a personal lament: he feels himself wasting away, because treachery continues among the treacherous, even in the midst of this hope.
  17. Isaías 24:17Describes the inevitable fate of those who live on the earth: terror, the pit, and the snare will overtake them, like a triple trap that no one easily escapes.
  18. Isaías 24:18Whoever flees from one danger will fall straight into another — from terror to the pit, from the pit to the snare — because even the floodgates of heaven open and the foundations of the earth shake, reinforcing the total cosmic judgment.
  19. Isaías 24:19The earth is described as being utterly broken, split apart, and shaken — three different verbs reinforcing the same idea of total destruction.
  20. Isaías 24:20The earth staggers like a drunk and sways like a hut in the wind — an image of total instability, unable to stand under the weight of its own sin, falling to never rise again.
  21. Isaías 24:21The “host of the high ones” alongside the kings of the earth combine powers the ancients saw as heavenly with human powers in the same judgment. It is a way of saying that no one escapes, gathered together like ordinary prisoners in a dungeon.
  22. Isaías 24:22The defeated powers, mentioned in the previous verse, are gathered together like prisoners in a dungeon, shut up, and only after many days will they be “visited” again — a judgment that stretches on before the final resolution.
  23. Isaías 24:23Ends the chapter with an image of glory so great it outshines even the moon and the sun: when the LORD reigns in Zion and Jerusalem, His glory will be so evident that the very stars seem dim by comparison.

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