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Impending Judgment on the Earth

24 Now the Lord is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate,
    and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.(A)
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
    as with the male slave, so with his master;
    as with the female slave, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
    as with the lender, so with the borrower;
    as with the creditor, so with the debtor.(B)
The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled,
    for the Lord has spoken this word.(C)

The earth dries up and withers;
    the world languishes and withers;
    the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
    under its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed laws,
    violated the statutes,
    broken the everlasting covenant.(D)
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
    and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,
    and few people are left.(E)

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