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 ails you now, 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.

You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town, your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they 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 your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They 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, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labour to comfort me for 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 it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity from the Lord, GOD of Armies, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls, and a 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.

Elam carried his 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!

Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen 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.

He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armour in 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.

You saw the breaches of David’s city, that they were many; and you 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.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke 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 also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who 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.

In that day, the Lord, GOD of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in 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 is joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s 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.”

The LORD of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, GOD of Armies.

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, GOD of Armies says, “Go, get yourself 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 are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiselling a habitation for himself in the rock!”

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

Behold, the LORD will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.

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 around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you disgrace of your lord’s house.

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

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

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

It will happen 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 your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and 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 lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one 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 like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory 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.

They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.

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,” says the LORD of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken it.”