Isaiah 24:16b-23
God shakes the earth but establishes His glorious reign.
16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.
17 Fear, the pit, and the snare, are on you who inhabit the earth.
18 It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the middle of the pit will be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
19 The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.
21 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be visited.
23 Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and glory will be before his elders.
God shakes the earth but establishes his glorious reign.
To describe escalating global judgment culminating in the LORD’s exalted reign over Mount Zion.
Isaiah uses vivid imagery to portray the instability of the earth and the collapse of human power structures.
The Whole Earth Laid Waste, the Everlasting Covenant Broken, and the LORD Reigning on Mount Zion
Isaiah 24 declares that the LORD will judge the whole earth for covenant-breaking and defilement, shake every false security, silence rebellious joy, preserve praise from the ends of the earth, and reign gloriously on Mount Zion.