Isaiah 22

1 The word about the valley of vision. Why have all your people gone up to the house-tops?

This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops,

2 You, who are full of loud voices, a town of outcries, given up to joy; your dead men have not been put to the sword, or come to their death in war.

O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

3 All your rulers ... have gone in flight; all your strong ones have gone far away.

All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.

4 For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people.

Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5 For it is a day of trouble and of crushing down and of destruction from the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the valley of vision; ...

For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision— of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains.

6 And Elam was armed with arrows, and Aram came on horseback; and the breastplate of Kir was uncovered.

Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.

7 And your most fertile valleys were full of war-carriages, and the horsemen took up their positions in front of the town.

Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.

8 He took away the cover of Judah; and in that day you were looking with care at the store of arms in the house of the woods.

He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

9 And you saw all the broken places in the wall of the town of David: and you got together the waters of the lower pool.

You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

10 And you had the houses of Jerusalem numbered, pulling down the houses to make the wall stronger.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.

11 And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before.

You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.

12 And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief:

On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

13 But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.

But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14 And the Lord of armies said to me secretly, Truly, this sin will not be taken from you till your death, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.

The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,”

15 The Lord, the Lord of armies, says, Go to this person in authority, this Shebna, who is over the house; who has made himself a resting-place on high, cutting out a place for himself in the rock, and say,

This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:

16 Who are you, and by what right have you made for yourself a resting-place here?

What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?

17 See, O strong man, the Lord will send you violently away, gripping you with force,

Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

18 Twisting you round and round like a ball he will send you out into a wide country: there you will come to your end, and there will be the carriages of your pride, O shame of your lord's house!

roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master.

19 And I will have you forced out of your place of authority, and pulled down from your position.

I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.

20 And in that day I will send for my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah:

On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21 And I will put your robe on him, and put your band about him, and I will give your authority into his hand: and he will be a father to the men of Jerusalem, and to the family of Judah.

I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 And I will give the key of the family of David into his care; and what he keeps open will be shut by no one, and what he keeps shut no one will make open.

I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

23 And I will put him like a nail in a safe place; and he will be for a seat of glory to his father's family.

I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.

24 And all the glory of his father's family will be hanging on him, all their offspring, every small vessel, even the cups and the basins.

So they will hang on him the whole burden of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

25 In that day, says the Lord of armies, will the nail fixed in a safe place give way; and it will be cut down, and in its fall the weight hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has said it.

In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.