241 Behold , the Lord lays the earth waste , devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants . 2 And the people will be like the priest , the servant like his master , the maid like her mistress , the buyer like the seller , the lender like the borrower , the creditor like the debtor . 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled , for the Lord has spoken this word . 4 The earth mourns and withers , the world fades and withers , the exalted of the people of the earth fade away . 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants , for they transgressed laws , violated statutes , broke the everlasting covenant . 6 Therefore e , a curse devours the earth , and those who live in it are held guilty . Therefore e , the inhabitants of the earth are burned , and few men are left . 7 The new wine mourns , The vine decays , All the merry-hearted e sigh . 8 The gaiety of tambourines ceases , The noise of revelers stops , The gaiety of the harp ceases . 9 They do not drink wine with song ; Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. 10 The city of chaos is broken down ; Every house is shut up so that none may enter . 11 There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine ; All joy turns to gloom . The gaiety of the earth is banished . 12 Desolation is left in the city And the gate is battered to ruins .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 24:1-12
Commentary on Isaiah 24:1-12
(Read Isaiah 24:1-12)
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, from what it was when God first made it to be his habitation. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble, See the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin brings these calamities upon the earth; it is polluted by the sins of men, therefore it is made desolate by God's judgments. Carnal joy will soon be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make strong drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can take their joy from them.