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 oracle on the valley of vision, —What aileth thee, then, That thou art wholly gone up to the house-tops?

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.

With tumults, art thou filled, thou citadel in commotion! city exultant! Thy slain, are Not the slain, of the sword, Nor the dead 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 thy ruler, having fled, together, by the bow, are taken captive: All found in thee have been taken captive, together, Far away, have they fled.

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 cause, I said—Look away from me, Bitterly, will I weep, —Do not press to comfort me, For the ruin 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 a day of confusion and downtreading and perplexity, pertaineth to My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, in the valley of vision, an undermining of walls, and a crying for help to the mountain.

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

Yea, Elam, beareth the quiver, With trains of men, [and] horsemen, —And, Kir, hath uncovered the shield.

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

And it hath come to pass that the choice of thy vales, are full of chariots; Yea, the horsemen, have set themselves, in array, at the gate.

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

Then removed he the veil of Judah, —Yea thou didst peer on that day, into the armoury 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 the breaches in the city of David, ye beheld for they were many, —So ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool;

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

And the houses of Jerusalem, ye counted, —And brake down the houses, 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 a reservoir, ye made between the two walls, for the waters of the ancient pool, —And had no regard unto him that made it, Nor unto him that formed it long ago, had ye respect.

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

And, when My Lord Yahweh of hosts called in that day, —for weeping, and for lamentation, and for shaving bare and for girding with 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.

Then lo! joy and rejoicing, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, —Let us eat and drink, For to-morrow, we may 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.

Therefore did Yahweh reveal himself in mine ears. Surely there shall be no propitiatory-covering put over this iniquity for you until ye die, Saith My Lord Yahweh 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, said My Lord Yahweh, of hosts, Come go in unto this steward, Unto Shebna, who is over the house:

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 doest thou here? And whom hast thou here? That thou hast hewn for thyself here a sepulchre, —As one hewing on high his sepulchre, Cutting out in the cliff a habitation for himself?

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,

Lo! Yahweh, is about to hurl thee, with a hurl, O mighty man, —And roll thee with a roll;

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, toss, thee, with a toss, like a ball, into a country wide on both hands, —There, shalt thou die, And there shall thy glorious chariots be the contempt of the house of thy lord.

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

Thus will I thrust thee out from thine office, —And from thy station, shall one tear thee down.

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

And it shall come to pass in that day, That I will call for my servant, for Eliakim 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 will clothe him with thy tunic And with thy girdle, will I gird him, And thine authority, will I deliver into his hand, —So shall he become a father To the inhabitant 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 lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, —And he shall open and none shall shut, And shut and none shall 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 as a peg in a sure place, —And he shall become a throne of glory, to 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 shall hang upon him all the weight of his father’s house—The offshoots and the side-twigs—All the small vessels, Both the cups and all the jugs

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, —Declareth Yahweh of hosts Shall the peg, give way, that was fastened in a sure place, —Yea it shall be cut off and fall And the burden that was upon it shall perish, For, Yahweh, hath spoken!