Isaiah 24

The Earth Turned Upside Down

Because the everlasting covenant is broken, the whole earth reels like a drunkard, until the Lord reigns in Zion so gloriously that the sun is ashamed.

A vision of the last days Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Chapters 24–27 are often called “the Isaiah apocalypse” (or the “little apocalypse”).

Chapters 24–27 are often called “the Isaiah apocalypse” (or the “little apocalypse”). After the oracles against individual nations in chapters 13–23, Isaiah zooms out to the whole earth. The names of particular countries mostly disappear. Instead we hear about “the earth,” “the world,” “the city of confusion,” and “that day.”

These four chapters alternate between judgment and song. Chapter 24 describes the earth collapsing under the weight of sin. Chapters 25 and 26 are hymns of praise for deliverance, including the promise that death will be swallowed up and the dead will rise. Chapter 27 ends with the Lord slaying the dragon and gathering His people one by one.

Latter-day Saints have a special interest in chapter 24, because verse 5 describes the apostasy in terms the Lord Himself repeated in the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 1:15).

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 24 is about what happens to the earth when its covenant with God is broken.

Isaiah 24 is about what happens to the earth when its covenant with God is broken. The key is verse 5.

The chapter opens with the Lord turning the earth “upside down” (verse 1). Every social distinction collapses. Priest and people, master and servant, lender and borrower all suffer alike (verse 2). No class, wealth, or office offers protection.

Then Isaiah explains why. “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” (verse 5). The earth itself is pictured as a living thing, polluted by the sins of those who live on it, and so “the curse” devours it (verse 6). The party ends, and the wine turns bitter (verses 7–11). “The city of confusion” (literally, the city of chaos) is broken down (verse 10).

Yet even here, a few olives cling to the tree after the harvest (verse 13), and from the ends of the earth come songs of praise (verses 14–16). Then the earth staggers like a drunkard and collapses like a flimsy hut (verse 20). The powers in heaven and on earth are gathered like prisoners into a pit, and “after many days shall they be visited” (verse 22).

The chapter ends with a blaze of glory. When the Lord reigns in Zion, His radiance is so great that “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed” (verse 23). The world built on a broken covenant falls apart. The world built on the Lord’s reign outshines the sun.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–6

The broken covenant

In plain words

Look! The Lord is about to empty the earth and lay it waste. He will twist its surface and scatter its people. It will be the same for everyone: people and priest, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor. The earth will be completely emptied and plundered. The Lord has spoken. The earth dries up and withers; the world wastes away; even its proud people wilt. The earth is polluted by those who live on it, because they have broken the laws, changed the statutes, and violated the everlasting covenant. So a curse consumes the earth, and its people bear their guilt. The earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and only a few are left.

1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

Liken It #

No one is exempt

Verse 2 lists six pairs of social opposites: people and priest, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

Verse 2 lists six pairs of social opposites: people and priest, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor. In ordinary life, one member of each pair has power over the other. In the day of judgment, those distinctions don’t matter. Hosea said the same: “there shall be, like people, like priest” (Hosea 4:9).

It’s a leveling vision. Neither religious office nor wealth nor status can protect anyone from the consequences of a broken covenant. The Lord told the early Saints that His judgments would begin “upon my house” (D&C 112:24–26).

3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.

4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

Restoration Insight #

The apostasy described

This is one of the most significant verses in Isaiah for Latter-day Saints.

This is one of the most significant verses in Isaiah for Latter-day Saints. It describes a world that has transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant. The “everlasting covenant” in the Old Testament can refer to God’s covenant with Noah and all the earth (Gen. 9:16) and to His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:7).

In the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord described the condition of the world before the Restoration in almost identical terms: “they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant” (D&C 1:15). He then explained that this is why He called Joseph Smith: “that mine everlasting covenant might be established” (D&C 1:17–23). Later He called the new and everlasting covenant of baptism and the fulness of the gospel a restoration of what had been lost (D&C 22:1; D&C 66:2).

Isaiah saw not only the corruption of his own day but a broader, worldwide falling away from the covenant. The Restoration is the Lord’s answer.

6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Verses 7–13

The party is over

In plain words

The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. The cheerful drums are silent, the noise of the partygoers has stopped, and the joyful harp is still. No one drinks wine with singing anymore, and beer tastes bitter. The city of chaos is broken down; every house is barred shut. People cry in the streets for wine. All joy has faded, and gladness is banished from the land. The city is left in ruins, and its gate is battered to pieces. It will be like this throughout the earth: like an olive tree that has been beaten, like the few grapes left after the harvest.

7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

Verses 14–16

Songs from the ends of the earth

In plain words

Those who are left raise their voices and shout for joy. From the west they proclaim the Lord’s majesty. So in the east give glory to the Lord; in the islands of the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the Righteous One!” But I said, “I’m wasting away, I’m wasting away! Woe to me! Traitors betray; traitors betray treacherously.”

14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.

15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

Restoration Insight #

Praise from the isles of the sea

Right after the vision of devastation, songs break out from the ends of the earth: from “the sea” (the west), from “the fires” (probably the east, the region of sunrise), and from…

Right after the vision of devastation, songs break out from the ends of the earth: from “the sea” (the west), from “the fires” (probably the east, the region of sunrise), and from “the isles of the sea,” the distant coastlands. The survivors are not only in Jerusalem. They are scattered worldwide, and they are singing.

Book of Mormon peoples saw themselves in that phrase: “we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Ne. 10:20). The Lord told Nephi, “I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea” (2 Ne. 29:7).

16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

Verses 17–23

The earth reels, and the Lord reigns

In plain words

Terror, pit, and trap await you, people of the earth! Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in the trap. The floodgates of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is utterly broken, split apart, and violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunk and sways like a hut in the wind. Its rebellion weighs it down; it falls and will not rise again. In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners in a pit and locked in a prison, and after many days they will be visited. The moon will be embarrassed and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will shine before His elders.

17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

Restoration Insight #

Prisoners in the pit, visited

“The host of the high ones” are powers in the heavens, likely the fallen spiritual forces behind earthly rulers.

“The host of the high ones” are powers in the heavens, likely the fallen spiritual forces behind earthly rulers. Along with “the kings of the earth,” they are gathered like prisoners into a pit and shut up “and after many days shall they be visited.”

“Visited” can mean punished, but it can also mean looked after or attended to. Latter-day Saints may see here a hint of a doctrine the Restoration made plain: the Savior and His messengers visit the spirits in prison. Peter wrote that Christ “went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (1 Pet. 3:18–20; 1 Pet. 4:6), and President Joseph F. Smith saw how the Lord organized that work (D&C 138:29–37). Satan himself will be bound for a thousand years and loosed “for a little season” afterward (Rev. 20:1–3; D&C 88:110–111).

23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Witness of Christ #

Glory that outshines the sun

When the Lord of hosts reigns in Zion, His glory will be so great that the sun and moon look embarrassed by comparison.

When the Lord of hosts reigns in Zion, His glory will be so great that the sun and moon look embarrassed by comparison. The modern revelation describing His coming uses almost the same words: “so great shall be the glory of his presence that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its light” (D&C 133:49).

John saw the holy city that “had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23; see Isa. 60:19–20). The chapter that began with the earth turned upside down ends with the Lord reigning in Zion “before his ancients gloriously”: the elders of Israel, like the seventy elders who saw God on Sinai (Ex. 24:9–11).

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 24

Isaiah 24 ends with Jesus Christ reigning in Zion in glory so bright the sun is ashamed (D&C 133:49; Rev. 21:23). That is where the whole collapse is heading.

The chapter also explains why He had to restore His covenant. The world “broke the everlasting covenant” (verse 5), and the Lord answered by restoring it through the Prophet Joseph Smith (D&C 1:15–22). And the prisoners “visited” after many days (verse 22) recall the Savior who went to the spirit world to proclaim liberty (1 Pet. 3:18–20; D&C 138:18). Even in a chapter of cosmic judgment, He is the one who restores, visits, and reigns.

Liken it to yourself

Verse 5 describes a world that changed ordinances and broke covenants. How am I keeping the covenants I’ve made, and are there any I’ve “changed” to suit myself?
The “city of confusion” runs out of joy (verses 7–11). What kinds of “merriment” in my life leave me emptier afterward?
Where do I see “songs from the uttermost part of the earth” (verse 16), signs of faith and praise even in a troubled world?

Worth exploring next

The apostasy and the Restoration. Read Isaiah 24:5 with D&C 1:12–23, Amos 8:11–12, and 2 Thes. 2:1–3.
Signs of His coming. Compare Isaiah 24:18–23 with D&C 88:86–94 and D&C 133:40–49.
The spirits in prison. Read Isaiah 24:21–22, Isa. 42:7, Isa. 61:1, and D&C 138.

Sources & further reading

Chapter 15: Prophecies of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times (Isaiah 24–35), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
“Second Coming of Jesus Christ”, Guide to the Scriptures.
Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.

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