Isaiah - Chapter 22

¹ Prophecy on the Valley of Vision: Now what is the matter with you for you all to be up on the housetops,

² full of excitement, boisterous town, joyful city? Your slain have not fallen to the sword nor died in battle.

³ Your leaders have all fled together, captured without a bow between them, all who could be found have been captured at a blow, far though they had fled.

⁴ That is why I said, 'Turn your eyes away from me, let me weep bitterly; do not try to comfort me over the ruin of the daughter of my people.'

⁵ For this is a day of rout, panic and confusion, the work of the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth in the Valley of Vision. The wall is sapped, cries for help ring out to the mountains.

⁶ Elam has picked up his quiver, with manned chariots and horsemen, and Kir has bared his shield.

⁷ Your fairest valleys are full of chariots and the horsemen take up positions at the gates;

⁸ thus falls the defence of Judah. That day you turned your gaze to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

⁹ You saw how many breaches there were in the City of David. You collected the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰ You surveyed the houses in Jerusalem and pulled houses down to strengthen the wall.

¹¹ Between the two walls you made a reservoir for the waters of the old pool. But you did not look to the Creator of these things, you did not look to the One who fashioned them long ago.

¹² That day the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth called on you to weep and mourn, to shave your heads, to put on sackcloth.

¹³ But instead there is joy and merriment, killing of oxen, slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat, drinking of wine, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead.'

¹⁴ Then Yahweh Sabaoth revealed this to my ears, 'This guilt will never be forgiven you, until you are dead,' says the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth.

¹⁵ The Lord Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Go and find that steward, Shebna, the master of the palace:

¹⁶ 'What do you own here, who gave you the right for you to hew yourself a tomb here?' He is hewing himself a tomb, is digging a resting-place for himself in the rock.

¹⁷ But Yahweh will throw you away, strong as you are, will grasp you in his grip,

¹⁸ will screw you up into a ball, a ball thrown into a vast space. There you will die, with your splendid chariots, disgrace to your master's palace!

¹⁹ I shall hound you from your office, I shall snatch you from your post

²⁰ and, when that day comes, I shall summon my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

²¹ I shall dress him in your tunic, I shall put your sash round his waist, I shall invest him with your authority; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.

²² I shall place the key of David's palace on his shoulder; when he opens, no one will close, when he closes, no one will open.

²³ I shall drive him like a nail into a firm place; and he will become a throne of glory for his family.

²⁴ 'On him will depend all the glory of his family, the descendants and offspring, all the vessels of small capacity too, from cups to pitchers.

²⁵ That day, declares Yahweh Sabaoth, the nail driven into a firm place will give way, will be torn out and fall. And the whole load hanging on it will be lost. For Yahweh has spoken.'

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