Isaiah 22

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

The prophecy concerning the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, That all thine inhabitants are gone up to the house-tops?

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 wast full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city! Thy slain fall not by the sword; They are not slain in battle.

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

All thy leaders flee together, By the bowmen are they bound; All found within thee are made captive together, Even they who have fled from afar.

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, say I, look away from me, that I may weep bitterly; Strive not to comfort me for the desolation 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 a day of trouble, of desolation, and of perplexity cometh From the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision. They break down the walls; The cry reacheth to the mountains.

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

Elam beareth the quiver, With chariots full of men, and with horsemen; Kir uncovereth 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.

Thy fairest valleys, [[O Jerusalem, ]] are full of chariots; The horsemen set themselves in array 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.

The veil of Judah is torn from her. But in such a day ye look to the armor 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.

Ye mark how many are the breaches of the city of David, And collect the waters of the lower pool;

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

Ye number the houses of Jerusalem, And ye break down the houses to prepare 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.

Ye make a reservoir between the two walls for the waters of the old pool; But ye look not to Him who hath done this; Ye regard not Him that hath prepared this from afar.

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:

The Lord, Jehovah of hosts, calleth you this day To weeping and to lamentation, 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.

But, behold, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating flesh and drinking wine! “Let us eat and drink, For to-morrow 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.

Therefore it hath been revealed in my ears by Jehovah of hosts; “This iniquity shall not be forgiven you, till ye die,” Saith the Lord, Jehovah 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, Jehovah of hosts: Go in to this steward, To Shebna, who is over the household, and say,

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

What hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, That thou here hewest thee out a sepulchre, —That thou hewest out thy sepulchre on high, And gravest out a habitation for thyself in the rock?

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

Behold, Jehovah will cast thee headlong with a mighty thrust;

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 violently roll thee together like a ball; Like a ball will he hurl thee into a wide country. There shalt thou die; And there shall be thy splendid chariots, Thou disgrace 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.

I will drive thee from thy post, And from thy station I will pull thee down.

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

In that day I will call my servant, Even Eliakim, the 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 thy robe, And bind thy girdle around him; Thy government will I commit to his hand, And he shall be a father to the inhabitants 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 lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; 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.

I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, And he shall be a glorious seat for his father's 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.

Upon him shall hang all the glory of his father's house, The offspring and the offshoots; Every small vessel, from the goblet even to all the pitchers.

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 Jehovah of hosts, The peg that was once fastened in a sure place shall be moved; It shall be cut down, and fall, And the burden which was upon it shall come to the ground. For Jehovah hath said it.