Isaiah 22

1 A message about the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem). What's happening? Why has everyone gone up onto the rooftops?

The doom of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the roofs?

2 There are shouts and commotion all over the city with people celebrating. Your dead weren't killed by the sword or in battle.

O noiseful, tumultuous city, joyous town? thy slain ones are not slain with the sword, and not those that die in battle.

3 All your leaders ran away together; they were captured without resistance. All your people trying to escape were captured together, even though they had run a long way away.

All thy rulers are fled together, they are made prisoners by the bowmen: all that are found in thee are made prisoners together, who have run away from afar.

4 That's why I said, “Go away! Let me mourn in peace. Don't insist on comforting me as the daughter of my people is ruined.”

Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly; be not urgent to comfort me, because of the wasting of the daughter of my people.

5 For the Lord has a day of defeat, of panic and confusion in the Valley of Vision, a day of tearing down walls and crying for help to the mountains.

For a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity hath the Lord Eternal of hosts in the valley of vision; walls are broken, and crying is heard against the mountain.

6 The Elamites pick up their quivers full of arrows, and prepare their chariots and horsemen, while the people of Kir uncover their shields ready for battle.

And 'Elam beareth the quiver, [cometh] with men in chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovereth the shield.

7 Your most productive valleys are now full of enemy chariots; and their cavalry are at your gates!

And it is so, that thy choicest valleys are full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array against the gate.

8 Judah's defenses have been stripped away and so at that time you went looking for weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

And he laid open the covering of Judah; and thou didst look on that day toward the armor of the house of the forest.

9 You examined the breaks in the walls of the City of David and found there were many. You had water collect in the lower pool.

And the breaches of the city of David have ye seen, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

10 Your reviewed the number of houses in the city and demolished some to provide stone to repair the walls.

And the houses of Jerusalem have ye numbered, and ye have pulled down the houses to fortify the wall.

11 You built a reservoir inside the walls for the waters from the old pool, but you did not respect its Maker or think about the One who planned it long ago.

And a tank have ye made between the two walls for the water of the old pool; but ye have not looked at the Maker thereof, him that fashioned it in distant times have ye not regarded.

12 At that time the Lord, the Lord Almighty, was calling you to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth.

And the Lord Eternal of hosts called on that day for weeping, and for mourning, and for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth.

13 Instead, you go on happily partying! You slaughter cattle and sheep so you can have your feasts, eating meat and drinking wine, saying, “Let's eat and drink, because we're going to die tomorrow!”

And behold [there are] gladness and joy, slaying of oxen, and killing of sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we must die.”

14 The Lord Almighty has made this clear to me: “I will not forgive this sin till your dying day, says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.”

And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven unto you until ye die, said the Lord the Eternal of hosts.

15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, told me to do. “Go to Shebna, the palace manager, and give him this message:

Thus hath said the Lord, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, who is [superintendent] over the house;

16 ‘What are you doing here? Who do you think you are, cutting out a tomb for yourself high up on a hill, carving out for yourself a place to rest?

What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewn out for thyself here a sepulchre, [the man] that hath hewn out on high his sepulchre, that holloweth out in the rock a habitation for himself?

17 Watch out, you “great man”! The Lord is about to grab you and violently toss you aside.

Behold, the Lord will thrust thee about with a mighty throw, O man! and will lay fast hold of thee;

18 He's going to roll you up into a ball, and throw you far away into a vast country. You will die there, and that's where the chariots you were so proud of will remain. You're a disgrace to your lord's royal family.

He will roll thee up as a bundle, and [toss thee] like a ball into a country of ample space: there shalt thou die, and there shall [remain] the chariots of thy glory, thou disgrace of the house of thy lord.

19 I will push you out of office, I will strip you of your position.

And I will cast thee out from thy station, and from thy post shall he pull thee down.

20 After that I will call for my servant, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.

And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will call my servant, for Elyakim the son of Chilkiyahu.

21 I will put your robe and place your sash around him, and I will give your authority to him. He will be a father to the people living in Jerusalem and Judah.

And I will clothe him with thy robe, and thy girdle will I fasten around him, and thy government will I place into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

22 I will give him the key to the house of David. What he opens, nobody can shut; what he shuts, nobody can open.

And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; so that he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

23 I will drive him like a nail hammered securely into a wall. He will bring honor to his family.

And I will fasten him as a tent-nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a chair of honor to his father's house.

24 The heavy burden of his father's family will hang on him—all the descendants and the inlaws—all the little containers, bowls and all kinds of jars.

And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the shoots and offshoots, all the small vessels, from the vessels of basins, even to all the vessels of flagons.

25 So the time will come, declares the Lord Almighty, when the nail will come out of the wall, even though it was hammered in securely. It will break off and fall down, and everything hanging on it will fall down too. The Lord has spoken.

On that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall be removed the nail that is fastened in the sure place, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that is upon it shall be cut off; for the Lord hath spoken it.