Isaiah 22

1 The burden of the valley of vision. What does it mean to you, then, that each of you have even climbed to the rooftops?

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

2 Filled with clamor, a busy city, an exultant city: your dead have not been slain by the sword, nor did they die 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 leaders have fled together, and they have been bound by hardship. All who were found were chained together. They 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 For this reason, I said: “Depart from me. I will weep bitterly. Make no attempt to console me, over the devastation 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 death, and of trampling, and of weeping to the Lord, the God of hosts, in the valley of vision: examining the wall and the magnificence above the mountain.

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 Elam took up the quiver and the chariot of the horseman; and he stripped the wall of the shield.

Elam takes up the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir lays the shield bare.

7 And your elect valleys will be filled with chariots, and the horsemen will position themselves at the 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 the covering of Judah will be exposed, and in that day, you will see the weaponry of the forest house.

He took away the protection of Judah; and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

9 And you will see breaches in the city of David, for these have been multiplied. But you have gathered together the waters of the lower fish-pool.

You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many, and you collected the water of the lower pool.

10 And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem. And you have destroyed the houses in order to fortify the wall.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you tore down the houses to fortify the wall.

11 And you have made a pit between two walls for the waters of the ancient fish-pool. But you have not gazed upward to him who made it, and you have not considered, even from a distance, its Maker.

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 in that day, the Lord, the God of hosts, will call to weeping and mourning, to baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.

The Lord Yahweh of hosts called on that day for weeping, for mourning, for shaved heads, and the wearing of sackcloth.

13 But behold: gladness and rejoicing, the killing of calves and the slaughter of rams, the eating of meat and the drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will 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 the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you, until you die,” says the Lord, the God of hosts.

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, the God of hosts: Go forth and enter to him who lives in the tabernacle, to Shebna, who is in charge of the temple, and you shall say to him:

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

16 “What are you here, or who are you claiming to be here? For you have hewn a sepulcher for yourself here. You have diligently hewn a memorial in a rock, as a tabernacle to yourself.

'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, the Lord will cause you to be carried away, like a domesticated rooster, and he will remove you, like an outer garment.

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

18 He will crown you with a crown of tribulation. He will toss you like a ball into a broad and spacious land. There you will die, and there the chariot of your glory will be, for it is a shame to the house of your Lord.”

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 I will expel you from your station, and I will depose you from your ministry.

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

20 And this shall be in that day: I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.

It will come about on that day that I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21 And I will clothe him with your vestment, and I will strengthen him with your belt, and I will give your authority to his hand. And he shall be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

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 place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder. And when he opens, no one will close. And when he closes, no one will 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 fasten him like a peg in a trustworthy place. And he will be upon a throne of glory in the house of his father.

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 they will suspend over him all the glory of his father’s house: various kinds of vessels and every little article, from the vessels of bowls even to every instrument of music.

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 In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg which was fastened in a trustworthy place shall be taken away. And he will be broken, and he will fall, and he will perish, along with all that had depended upon him, because 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.