Isaiah 24:1

Isaiah 24:1 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
• New International Version (NIV)See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—
• English Standard Version (ESV)Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants.

Context of Isaiah 24:1

Understand this! The Lord is ready to destroy the earth. It will become a desert. He will spoil the ground. He will chase away all the people who live on it. 2It will be the same for all people: priests as well as ordinary people, masters as well as their servants, rich ladies as well as their servant girls, sellers as well as buyers, people who lend money as well as those who borrow it, rich people as well as poor people. 3The whole earth will become empty. Nothing will remain. The Lord has said that this punishment will certainly happen.

Isaiah 24:1 word by word

הִנֵּ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה בּוֹקֵ֥ק הָאָ֖רֶץ וּבֽוֹלְקָ֑הּ וְעִוָּ֣ה פָנֶ֔יהָ וְהֵפִ֖יץ יֹשְׁבֶֽיהָ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Behold, the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• maketh the earthאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• emptyבָּקַקbâqaq · to emptyH1238
• and maketh it wasteבָּלַקbâlaq · to wasteH1110
• and turnethעָוָה‛âvâh · to twistH5753
• it upside downפָּנֶהpânîym · face: surfaceH6440
• and scattereth abroadפּוּץpûts · to scatterH6327
• the inhabitantsיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427

Cross-references for Isaiah 24:1

• Isaiah 1:7Your land has become useless. Fire has destroyed your towns and cities. Foreign people have taken the crops from your fields, while you stood there and watched. Strangers have destroyed everything in your country.
• Isaiah 5:6I will make the land become useless. Nobody will take care of the vines. Nobody will dig the ground. Weeds and thorn bushes will grow there. I will command the clouds, ‘Do not drop any rain on it.’
• Isaiah 6:11Then I asked the Lord, ‘For how long will this be, Lord God?’ He replied, ‘It must continue until enemies destroy their cities. Their houses will become a heap of stones and nobody will live in them. Their land will become useless and nothing will remain there.
• Isaiah 7:17But the Lord will bring even greater trouble to you! It will be very bad for you, for the royal family, and for your people. Nothing as bad will have happened since Ephraim became separate from Judah. Yes, the Lord will bring the king of Assyria to attack you!’
• Isaiah 27:10The strong city will become empty. Nobody will live there any more. It will be like an empty desert. Young cows will eat the grass there, and they will lie down there. They will eat all the leaves on the branches of the tree.
• Isaiah 32:13Weep because of what has happened to my people's land. Only thorn bushes and weeds grow there. Weep because there are no longer any happy homes. There are no more parties in the city.
• Isaiah 42:15I will destroy the mountains and the hills. I will cause the plants that grow on them to die. I will cause the rivers to become dry islands. I will cause the pools of water to become dry.
• Jeremiah 4:7Yes, a strong army is coming, like a lion that has left its cave. It has come out to destroy many nations. It will attack your whole land. Your cities will become heaps of stones, and nobody will live in them.
• Ezekiel 5:14I will cause your city to become a heap of stones. People of the other nations around you will laugh at you when they see what has happened to you.
• Ezekiel 6:6In all the places that you live, soldiers will destroy your towns. They will also destroy the places where you worship false gods. They will break down the altars so that they become heaps of stones. They will break your idols into pieces. They will destroy the altars where you burn incense. They will remove all those things that you have made.
• Ezekiel 12:20The towns where people live will become heaps of stones. An enemy will destroy the whole land. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’
• Ezekiel 24:11Then put the empty pot on the coals of the fire. Make the pot very hot, so that its metal is bright red. Burn all the dirt to remove it. Make the pot clean again!
• Ezekiel 35:14So this is what the Almighty Lord says: I will make your land become a desert. All the people in the world will be very happy when they see this.
• Nahum 2:10They take the valuable things from the city. They take everything that they can. And they destroy everything else. The people are very sad. Their knees and their bodies shake. Their faces become white because they are afraid.
• Luke 21:24At that time, enemies will fight God's people and kill many of them in war. They will take some of them away as prisoners to live in all the other countries. They will not be free to return home. People that are not Jews will destroy Jerusalem. They will rule here until it is time for them to stop.’
• Isaiah 29:16Your minds are really confused! You think that the clay is more important than the person who uses it to make pots! A bowl cannot say to its maker, ‘You did not make me!’ A pot cannot say to the potter, ‘You do not know what you are doing!’

Commentaries on Isaiah 24:1

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1Maketh the earth empty - That is, will depopulate it, or take away its inhabitants, and its wealth. The word earth‘ here (ארץ 'ārets ) is used evidently not to denote the whole world, but the land to which the prophet particularly refers - the land of Judea. It should have been translated the land (see Joel 1:2). It is possible, however, that the word here may be intended to include so much of the nations that surrounded Palestine as were allied with it…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1The desolation of the land. (Is. 24:1-12) A few shall be preserved. (Is. 24:13-15) God's kingdom advanced by his judgments. (Is. 24:16-23) Verses 1-12 All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth, will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spirit which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth is become quite different to man…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins: There is a play here on the Hebrew words baqaq (lays waste) and balaq (leaves it in ruins). The devastation will start with Judah and spread to the entire world (see 1 Peter 4:17). All the earth will face destruction, including its people and political systems.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-23The four chapters (the twenty-fourth through the twenty-seventh) form one continuous poetical prophecy: descriptive of the dispersion and successive calamities of the Jews (Is 24:1-12); the preaching of the Gospel by the first Hebrew converts throughout the world (Is 24:13-16); the judgments on the adversaries of the Church and its final triumph (Is 24:16-23); thanksgiving for the overthrow of the apostate faction (Is 25:1-12), and establishment of the…Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 24:1

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Lending

In the dictionaries

• Dark
• Fear
• Lift
• Sennacherib
• Shake
• Isaiah
• Salvation
• Fan

Commentaries on Isaiah 24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings