Isaiah 22

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

The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou hast wholly gone up to the house-tops?

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

Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain [men are] not slain with the sword, nor dead 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 have fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, [who] have fled from far.

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, labor not to comfort me, because of the devastation 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 [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying 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.

And Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men [and] horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

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

And it shall come to pass, [that] thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array 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.

And he uncovered the coverings of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to 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.

Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye collected 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 ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down 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.

Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked to its maker, neither had respect to him that fashioned 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.

And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to 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 joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall 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 purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD 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 saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, repair to this treasurer, [even] 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 hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulcher here, [as] he that heweth him out a sepulcher on high, [and] that graveth a habitation for himself in a rock?

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

Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover 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.

With violence he will surely turn and toss thee [like] a ball into a wide country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the shame of thy lord's house.

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

And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

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

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the 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.

And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall 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.

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so 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 nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne 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 offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, 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.

In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that [was] upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.