1. The Lord is going to devastate the earth and leave it desolate. He will twist the earth's surface and scatter its people.
2. Everyone will meet the same fate — the priests and the people, slaves and masters, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, rich and poor.
3. The earth will lie shattered and ruined. The Lord has spoken and it will be done.
4. The earth dries up and withers; the whole world grows weak; both earth and sky decay.
5. The people have defiled the earth by breaking God's laws and by violating the covenant he made to last for ever.
6. So God has pronounced a curse on the earth. Its people are paying for what they have done. Fewer and fewer remain alive.