Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. He devastates the surface of the earth and scatters the people.

看哪，耶和华使地空虚，变为荒凉；又翻转大地，将居民分散。

看哪，耶和华使地空虚，变为荒芜，地面扭曲，居民四散。

看哪，耶和华使地空虚，变为荒芜，地面扭曲，居民四散。

看啊，耶和华必摧毁大地，使大地荒凉。祂毁坏地面，驱散万民。

看哪！耶和华使大地空虚，变为荒凉；他必翻转地面，使地上的居民四散。

看哪！耶和华使大地空废，变得荒凉；又使地面扭曲，使地上的居民四散。

看哪，耶和華使地空虛，變為荒涼；又翻轉大地，將居民分散。

看哪，耶和華使地空虛，變為荒蕪，地面扭曲，居民四散。

看哪，耶和華使地空虛，變為荒蕪，地面扭曲，居民四散。

看啊，耶和華必摧毀大地，使大地荒涼。祂毀壞地面，驅散萬民。

看哪！耶和華使大地空虛，變為荒涼；他必翻轉地面，使地上的居民四散。

看吧，永恆主必將大地弄空，使它變為荒蕪；他必扭歪地的面貌，使它的居民四散。

看哪！耶和華使大地空廢，變得荒涼；又使地面扭曲，使地上的居民四散。

耶和華使大地空虛荒蕪、傾而覆之、散其居民、

耶和華使斯土荒蕪、國家傾覆、居民離散、

主使斯地空虛、使之荒蕪、傾而覆之、傾而覆之原文作傾覆其面使其居民離散、

See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—

The Lord is going to completely destroy everything on earth. He will twist its surface. He’ll scatter those who live on it.

Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

Look, the LORD is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants.

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

Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

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

Look, the LORD is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.

I will level the mountains and hills and blight all their greenery. I will turn the rivers into dry land and will dry up all the pools.

Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling.

Then I said,“ Lord, how long will this go on?” And he replied,“ Until their towns are empty, their houses are deserted, and the whole country is a wasteland;until the Lord has sent everyone away, and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.

When the Lord rises to shake the earth, his enemies will crawl into holes in the ground. They will hide in caves in the rocks from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty.

The earth staggers like a drunk. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.

A lion stalks from its den, a destroyer of nations. It has left its lair and is headed your way. It’s going to devastate your land! Your towns will lie in ruins, with no one living in them anymore.

The cities will be destroyed and the farmland made desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.

“ Please remember what you told your servant Moses:‘ If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations.

Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes and destroy everything they see.Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard, like a lean to in a cucumber field after the harvest, like a helpless city under siege.If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.

“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The whole world will rejoice when I make you desolate.

I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.”

I will judge Jerusalem by the same standard I used for Samaria and the same measure I used for the family of Ahab. I will wipe away the people of Jerusalem as one wipes a dish and turns it upside down.

Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword.

How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it,“ He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say,“ The potter who made me is stupid”?

Wherever you live there will be desolation, and I will destroy your pagan shrines. Your altars will be demolished, your idols will be smashed, your places of worship will be torn down, and all the religious objects you have made will be destroyed.

The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

The fortified towns will be silent and empty, the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds. Calves will graze there, chewing on twigs and branches.

Now set the empty pot on the coals. Heat it red hot! Burn away the filth and corruption.

The land of Israel wilts in mourning. Lebanon withers with shame. The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness. Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.

For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone!

“ So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by.

They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.

For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.The palace and the city will be deserted, and busy towns will be empty. Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers

I would have annihilated them, wiping out even the memory of them.

For the Lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive.

“ Then the Lord will bring things on you, your nation, and your family unlike anything since Israel broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria upon you!”In that day the Lord will whistle for the army of southern Egypt and for the army of Assyria. They will swarm around you like flies and bees.They will come in vast hordes and settle in the fertile areas and also in the desolate valleys, caves, and thorny places.In that day the Lord will hire a“ razor” from beyond the Euphrates River— the king of Assyria— and use it to shave off everything: your land, your crops, and your people.In that day a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep or goats left.Nevertheless, there will be enough milk for everyone because so few people will be left in the land. They will eat their fill of yogurt and honey.In that day the lush vineyards, now worth 1,000 pieces of silver, will become patches of briers and thorns.The entire land will become a vast expanse of briers and thorns, a hunting ground overrun by wildlife.No one will go to the fertile hillsides where the gardens once grew, for briers and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep, and goats will graze there.

“ Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, the man who is my partner,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.“ Strike down the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs.Two thirds of the people in the land will be cut off and die,” says the Lord.“ But one third will be left in the land.I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say,‘ These are my people,’ and they will say,‘ The Lord is our God.’”

Later Johanan had a private conference with Gedaliah and volunteered to kill Ishmael secretly.“ Why should we let him come and murder you?” Johanan asked.“ What will happen then to the Judeans who have returned? Why should the few of us who are still left be scattered and lost?”

“ The Israelites are like sheep that have been scattered by lions. First the king of Assyria ate them up. Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon cracked their bones.”

Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council.“ Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted,“ and now they are here disturbing our city, too.

This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the“ twelve tribes”— Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!