The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.
Parallel translations
- WEB The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word.
- KJV The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
- NKJV The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For the Lord has spoken this word.
- NASB The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word.
- NLT The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The Lord has spoken!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The earth will be utterly emptied and plundered, for the Lord has spoken it. The certainty rests on God's own word.
Overview
The doubled language of emptying and laying waste intensifies the picture of total devastation. Its guarantee is simply that Yahweh has declared it. God's word, which created the world, is equally sure to bring its judgment to pass.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 24:1Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
- Isa 6:11Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Deut 29:28The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’
- Lev 26:30–35I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
- Deut 29:23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- 2 Chr 36:21So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD through Jeremiah.
- Isa 22:25In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.
- Mic 4:4And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.
- Ezek 36:4therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you.
- Isa 21:17The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
- Jer 13:15Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 24:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.