Esias 22

1 THE WORD OF THE VALLEY OF SION. What has happened to you, that now you are all gone up to the housetops which help you not?

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

2 The city is filled with shouting [men]: your slain are not slain with swords, nor are your dead those who have died in battle.

Filled with clamor, a busy city, an exultant city: your dead have not been slain by the sword, nor did they die in battle.

3 All your princes have fled, and [your] captives are tightly bound, and the mighty [men] in you have fled far away.

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.

4 Therefore I said, Let me alone, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me for the breach of the daughter of my people.

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.”

5 For [it is] a day of trouble, and of destruction, and of treading down, and [there is] perplexity [sent] from the Lord of hosts: they wander in the valley of Sion; they wander from the least to the greatest on the mountains.

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.

6 And the Elamites took [their] quivers, and [there were] men mounted on horses, and [there was] a gathering for battle.

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

7 And it shall be [that] your choice valleys shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen shall block up your gates.

And your elect valleys will be filled with chariots, and the horsemen will position themselves at the gates.

8 And they shall uncover the gates of Juda, and they shall look in that day on the choice houses of the city.

And the covering of Judah will be exposed, and in that day, you will see the weaponry of the forest house.

9 And they shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David: and they saw that they were many, and that one [had] turned the water of the old pool into the city;

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.

10 and that they [had] pulled down the houses of Jerusalem, to fortify the wall of the city.

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

11 And you procured to yourselves water between the two walls within the ancient pool: but you looked not to him that made it from the beginning, and regarded not him that created it.

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.

12 And the Lord, the Lord of hosts, called in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and baldness, and for girding with sackcloth:

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

13 but they engaged in joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing sheep, so as to eat flesh, and drink wine; saying, Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.

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.”

14 And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of hosts: for this sin shall not be forgiven you, until you die.

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.

15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, Go into the chamber, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him, Why are you here?

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:

16 and what have you to do here, that you have here hewn yourself a sepulchre, and made yourself a sepulchre on high, and have graven for yourself a dwelling in the rock?

“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.

17 Behold now, the Lord of hosts casts forth and will utterly destroy [such] a man, and will take away your robe and your glorious crown,

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

18 and will cast you into a great and unmeasured land, and there you shall die: and he will bring your fair chariot to shame, and the house of your prince to be trodden down.

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.”

19 And you shall be removed from your stewardship, and from your place.

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

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Chelcias:

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

21 and I will put on him your robe, and I will grant him your crown with power, and I will give your stewardship into his hands: and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in Jerusalem, and to them that dwell in Juda.

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.

22 And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him: and I will give him the key of the house of David [upon] his shoulder; and he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open.

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.

23 And I will make him a ruler in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne of his father's house.

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.

24 And every one that is glorious in the house of his father shall trust in him, from the least to the greatest; and they shall depend upon him in that day.

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.

25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, The man that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed: for the Lord has spoken it.

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.