1Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
2people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
3The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.
4The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
5The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.