Isaiah 22-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Warning of Destruction of Jerusalem
22 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
What has happened that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,(A)
2 city full of shouting,
tumultuous city, panic-stricken town?
Your slain are not slain by the sword,
nor are they dead in battle.(B)
3 Your rulers have all fled together;
they were captured without the use of a bow.[a]
All of your people who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.[b](C)
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
let me weep bitter tears;
do not try to comfort me
for the destruction of my beloved people.”(D)
5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a cry for help to the mountains.(E)
6 Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and cavalry,[c]
and Kir uncovered the shield.(F)
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the cavalry took their stand at the gates.(G)
8 He has taken away the covering of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,(H) 9 and you saw that there were many breaches in the city of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool.(I) 10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it or have regard for him who planned it long ago.(J)
12 On that day the Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for baldness and putting on sackcloth,(K)
13 but instead there was joy and festivity,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating meat and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”(L)
14 The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.(M)
Denunciation of Self-Seeking Officials
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Go to the steward Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him:(N) 16 What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here, that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb[d] on the height and carving a habitation for yourself[e] in the rock?(O) 17 The Lord is about to hurl you away violently, my fellow. He will seize firm hold on you, 18 whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there your splendid chariots shall lie, O you disgrace to your master’s house!(P) 19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.
20 “On that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah(Q) 21 and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open.(R) 23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house.(S) 24 And they will hang on him the whole weight of his ancestral house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way; it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will perish, for the Lord has spoken.”(T)
An Oracle concerning Tyre
23 The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed.[f]
When they came in from Cyprus
they learned of it.(U)
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
O merchants of Sidon;
your messengers crossed over the sea[g](V)
3 and were on the mighty waters;
your revenue[h] was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.(W)
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the fortress of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth;
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”(X)
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish—
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?(Y)
8 Who has planned this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has planned it—
to defile the pride of all glory,
to shame all the honored of the earth.(Z)
10 Cross over to your own land,
O ships of[i] Tarshish;
this is a harbor[j] no more.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan,
to destroy its fortresses.(AA)
12 He said:
“You will exult no longer,
O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;
rise, cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will have no rest.”(AB)
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined it for wild animals.[k] They erected their siege towers; they tore down her palaces; they made her a ruin.(AC)
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed.(AD)
15 From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:(AE)
16 Take a harp;
go about the city,
you forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.(AF) 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits[l] will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.(AG)
Footnotes
- 22.3 Or without their bows
- 22.3 Gk Syr Vg: Heb fled from far away
- 22.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 22.16 Gk Vg: Heb his tomb
- 22.16 Gk Vg: Heb himself
- 23.1 Cn: Heb for it is destroyed, without houses
- 23.2 Q ms: MT crossing over the sea, they replenished you
- 23.3 Heb its
- 23.10 Cn Compare Gk: Heb like the Nile, daughter
- 23.10 Cn: Heb restraint
- 23.13 Or This is the people that was not. Assyria founded it for its fleet.
- 23.18 Heb it
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.