Isaiah 22
1 A message about the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem). What's happening? Why has everyone gone up onto the rooftops?
A declaration about the Valley of Vision: What is the reason that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2 There are shouts and commotion all over the city with people celebrating. Your dead weren't killed by the sword or 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
Elam takes up the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir lays the shield bare.
7 Your most productive valleys are now full of enemy chariots; and their cavalry are at 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 Judah's defenses have been stripped away and so at that time you went looking for weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
He took away the protection of Judah; and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace 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.
You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many, and you collected the water of the lower pool.
10 Your reviewed the number of houses in the city and demolished some to provide stone to repair the walls.
You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you tore 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.
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 At that time the Lord, the Lord Almighty, was calling you to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth.
The Lord Yahweh of hosts called on that day for weeping, for mourning, for shaved heads, and the wearing of 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!”
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 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.”
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 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, told me to do. “Go to Shebna, the palace manager, and give him this message:
The Lord Yahweh of hosts, says this, “Go to this administrator, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,
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 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 Watch out, you “great man”! The Lord is about to grab you and violently toss you aside.
See, Yahweh is about to throw you, a mighty man, about to throw you down; he will grasp you tightly.
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 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 I will push you out of office, I will strip you of your position.
“I will thrust you from your office and from your station. You will be pulled down.
20 After that I will call for my servant, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
It will come about on that day that I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
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.
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 I will give him the key to the house of David. What he opens, nobody can shut; what he shuts, nobody can 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 I will drive him like a nail hammered securely into a wall. He will bring honor to his family.
I will fasten him, a peg in a secure place, and he will become a seat of glory for 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.
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 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—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.
