Esias 22

1 THE WORD OF THE VALLEY OF SION. What has happened to you, that now you are all gone up to the housetops which help you not?

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

2 The city is filled with shouting [men]: your slain are not slain with swords, nor are your dead those who have died in battle.

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 princes have fled, and [your] captives are tightly bound, and the mighty [men] in you have fled 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 Therefore I said, Let me alone, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me for the breach 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 destruction, and of treading down, and [there is] perplexity [sent] from the Lord of hosts: they wander in the valley of Sion; they wander from the least to the greatest on the mountains.

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 the Elamites took [their] quivers, and [there were] men mounted on horses, and [there was] a gathering for battle.

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

7 And it shall be [that] your choice valleys shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen shall block up your gates.

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

8 And they shall uncover the gates of Juda, and they shall look in that day on the choice houses of the city.

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

9 And they shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David: and they saw that they were many, and that one [had] turned the water of the old pool into the city;

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

10 and that they [had] pulled down the houses of Jerusalem, to fortify the wall of the city.

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

11 And you procured to yourselves water between the two walls within the ancient pool: but you looked not to him that made it from the beginning, and regarded not him that created it.

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 the Lord, the Lord of hosts, called in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and baldness, and for girding with sackcloth:

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

13 but they engaged in joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing sheep, so as to eat flesh, and drink wine; saying, Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.

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 these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of hosts: for this sin shall not be forgiven you, until you die.

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

15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, Go into the chamber, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him, Why are you here?

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

16 and what have you to do here, that you have here hewn yourself a sepulchre, and made yourself a sepulchre on high, and have graven for yourself a dwelling in the rock?

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 Behold now, the Lord of hosts casts forth and will utterly destroy [such] a man, and will take away your robe and your glorious crown,

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

18 and will cast you into a great and unmeasured land, and there you shall die: and he will bring your fair chariot to shame, and the house of your prince to be trodden down.

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 you shall be removed from your stewardship, and from your place.

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

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Chelcias:

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

21 and I will put on him your robe, and I will grant him your crown with power, and I will give your stewardship into his hands: and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in Jerusalem, and to them that dwell in Juda.

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 him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him: and I will give him the key of the house of David [upon] his shoulder; and he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to 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 make him a ruler in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne of his father's house.

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 every one that is glorious in the house of his father shall trust in him, from the least to the greatest; and they shall depend upon him in that day.

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 Thus says the Lord of hosts, The man that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed: for the Lord has spoken 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.