Isaiah 22

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

The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops?

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.

Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.

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

All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off.

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 have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation 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 it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.

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

And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall.

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

And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horseman shall place themselves in the gate.

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.

And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of 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.

And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool,

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

And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify 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.

And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought 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:

And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with 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.

And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall 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.

And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

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,

Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:

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

What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.

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

Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment.

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!

He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord.

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

And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry.

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

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,

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.

And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.

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.

And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall 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.

And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to 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.

And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music.

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, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.