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 nowe that thou art wholy gone vp vnto the house toppes?

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.

Thou that art full of noise, a citie full of brute, a ioyous citie: thy slaine men shall not bee slaine with sworde, nor die in battell.

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

All thy princes shall flee together from the bowe: they shalbe bound: all that shall be found in thee, shall be bound together, which haue fled from farre.

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 said I, Turne away from me: I wil weepe bitterly: labour not to comfort mee for 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 it is a day of trouble, and of ruine, and of perplexitie by the Lord God of hostes in the valley of vision, breaking downe the citie: and a crying vnto the mountaines.

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

And Elam bare the quiuer in a mans charet with horsemen, and Kir vncouered 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.

And thy chiefe valleis were full of charets, and the horsemen set themselues in aray against 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 hee discouered the couering of Iudah: and thou didest looke in that day to the armour 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 ye haue seene the breaches of the citie of Dauid: for they were many, and ye gathered the waters of the lower poole.

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

And yee nombred the houses of Ierusalem, and the houses haue yee broken downe to fortifie 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 haue also made a ditche betweene the two walles, for the waters of the olde poole, and haue not looked vnto the maker thereof, neither had respect vnto him that formed it of olde.

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 in that day did the Lord God of hosts call vnto weeping and mourning, and to baldnes and girding with sackecloth.

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 beholde, ioy and gladnes, slaying oxen and killing sheepe, eating flesh, and drinking wine, eating and drinking: for to morowe 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 it was declared in ye eares of the Lord of hostes. Surely this iniquitie shall not be purged from you, til ye die, saith the Lord God of hostes.

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 sayeth the Lord God of hostes, Goe, get thee to that treasurer, to Shebna, the steward of the house, and say,

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

What haste thou to doe here? and whome hast thou here? that thou shouldest here hewe thee out a sepulchre, as he that heweth out his sepulchre in an hie place, or that graueth an habitation for him selfe in a rocke?

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

Beholde, the Lord wil carie thee away with a great captiuitie, and will surely couer thee.

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 wil surely rolle and turne thee like a bal in a large countrey: there shalt thou die, and there the charets of thy glory shalbe the shame of thy lordes house.

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

And I wil driue thee from thy station, and out of thy dwelling will he destroy thee.

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

And in that day will I call my seruant Eliakim the sonne 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.

And with thy garments will I clothe him, and with thy girdle will I strengthen him: thy power also will I commit into his hande, and hee shalbe a father of the inhabitats of Ierusalem, and of the house of Iudah.

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 the key of the house of Dauid will I lay vpon his shoulder: so hee shall open, and no man shall shut: and he shall shut, and no man 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 naile in a sure place, and hee shall be for the throne of glorie to his fathers house.

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 vpon him all the glorie of his fathers house, euen of the nephewes and posteritie all small vessels, from the vessels of the cuppes, euen to all the instruments of musike.

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, sayeth the Lord of hostes, shall the naile, that is fastned in the sure place, depart and shall be broken, and fall: and the burden, that was vpon it, shall bee cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.