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?

A declaration about the Valley of Vision: What is the reason that you have all gone up to the housetops?

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.

Is it so you may hear a city full of noises, a town full of revelry? Your dead were not killed with the sword, and they did not die 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 fled away together, but they were captured without using a bow; all of them were captured together, though they had fled far away.

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, “Do not look at me, I will weep bitterly; do not try to comfort me concerning 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 there is a day of tumult, treading down, and confusion for the Lord Yahweh of hosts, in the Valley of Vision, a breaking down of the walls, and people crying out 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 the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir lays the shield bare.

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

It will come about that your choicest valleys will be full of chariots, and the horsemen will take their positions at the gate.

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

He took away the protection of Judah; and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace 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 the breaches of the city of David, that they were many, and you collected the water of 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 you tore down the houses to fortify 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 made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not consider the city's maker, who had 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:

The Lord Yahweh of hosts called on that day for weeping, for mourning, for shaved 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, instead, celebration and gladness, killing cattle and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will 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.

This was revealed in my ears by Yahweh of hosts: “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you, even when you die,” says the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

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

The Lord Yahweh of hosts, says this, “Go to this administrator, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,

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 gave you permission to cut out a tomb for yourself, hewing out a grave on the heights and carving out a 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,

See, Yahweh is about to throw you, a mighty man, about to throw you down; he will grasp you tightly.

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.

He will surely wind you round and round, and toss you like a ball into a vast country. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be; you will be the shame of your master's house!

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

“I will thrust you from your office and from your station. You will be pulled down.

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

It will come about on that day that I will call 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 tunic and put on him your sash, and I will transfer your authority into his hand. He will be a father to the inhabitants 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 the key of the house of David on his shoulder; he will open, and none will shut; he will shut, and none will 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 fasten him, a peg in a secure place, and he will become a seat of glory for his father's house.

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.

They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and descendants, every small container from the cups to all the jugs.

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.

On that day—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts—the peg driven in a firm place will give way, break off, and fall, and the weight that was on it will be cut off—for Yahweh has spoken.