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