Isaiah 24:4

The earth ¹  dries up ²  and withers, the world shrivels up and withers; the prominent people of the earth ³  fade away.

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish.

The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.

The earth dries up, the crops wither, the skies refuse to rain.

The earth turns gaunt and gray, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colorless.

The earth is sorrowing and wasting away, the world is full of grief and wasting away, the high ones of the earth come to nothing.

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth.

The earth mourns and fades away, The world languishes and fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish.

The earth ¹  dries up ²  and withers, the world shrivels up and withers; the prominent people of the earth ³  fade away.

¹ tn Some prefer to read “land” here, but the word pair אֶרֶץ/תֵּבֵל (erets/tevel [see the corresponding term in the parallel line]) elsewhere clearly designates the earth/world (see 1 Sam 2:8; 1 Chr 16:30; Job 37;12; Pss 19:4; 24:1; 33:8; 89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 98:9; Prov 8:26, 31; Isa 14:16-17; 34:1; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Lam 4:12). According to L. Stadelmann, תבל designates “the habitable part of the world” (The Hebrew Conception of the World [AnBib], 130).

² tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists the homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism.

³ tn Heb “the height of the people of the earth.” The translation assumes an emendation of the singular form מְרוֹם (mÿrom, “height of”) to the plural construct מְרֹמֵי (mÿrome, “high ones of”; note the plural verb at the beginning of the line), and understands the latter as referring to the prominent people of human society.