Bible Strands
Isaiah 24:1
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah pronounces judgment over the earth and its inhabitants. This declaration introduces a broader sequence of calamity that immediately details the collapse of social and economic relationships in Isaiah 24:2.
The words — The Hebrew בּוֹקֵק (bo.Kek) and וּ/בֽוֹלְקָ֑/הּ (u./Vol.Ka/h) both denote the action of laying waste or devastating the land. These terms establish the divine act of ruin as the direct cause of the subsequent twisting of the surface and scattering of the population.
The thread — The motif of earth devastation and scattered inhabitants reappears in Isaiah 24:20, which describes the land staggering and collapsing under rebellion. The pattern of fleeing divine terror and experiencing desolation also runs through Isaiah 2:19 and Nahum 2:10.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to identify the LORD as the direct agent of geopolitical and social ruin. It demands acknowledgment that the earth’s surface and its people are subject to divine action before any subsequent historical or personal consequences unfold.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 2:19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- Nahum 2:10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
- Isaiah 24:20 The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.
- Isaiah 42:15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.
- 2 Kings 21:13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then 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,
- Ezekiel 12:20 The inhabited cities will be laid waste, and the land will become desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
- Ezekiel 35:14 This is what the Lord GOD says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
- Deuteronomy 4:27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.