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Isaiah 22
Contemporary English Version
Isaiah 22
Contemporary English Version
Trouble in Vision Valley
22 This is a message about Vision Valley:[a]
Why are you celebrating
on the flat roofs[b]
of your houses?
2 Your city is filled
with noisy shouts.
Those who lie drunk
in your streets
were not killed in battle.
3 Your leaders ran away,
but they were captured
without a fight.
No matter how far they ran,
they were found and caught.[c]
4 Then I said, “Leave me alone!
Let me cry bitter tears.
My people have been destroyed,
so don't try to comfort me.”
5 The Lord All-Powerful
had chosen a time
for noisy shouts and confusion
to fill Vision Valley,
and for everyone to beg
the mountains for help.[d]
6 The people of Elam and Kir[e]
attacked with chariots[f]
and carried shields.
7 Your most beautiful valleys
were covered with chariots;
your cities were surrounded
by cavalry troops.
8 Judah was left defenseless.
At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace.[g] 9 You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool.[h] 10 You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall. 11 Then you built a large tank between the walls[i] to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.
A Time To Weep
12 When all of this happened,
the Lord All-Powerful told you
to weep and mourn,
to shave your heads,
and wear sackcloth.
13 (A) But instead, you celebrated
by feasting on beef and lamb
and by drinking wine,
because you said,
“Let's eat and drink today!
Tomorrow we may die.”
14 The Lord All-Powerful
has spoken to me
this solemn promise:
“I won't forgive them for this,
not as long as they live.”
Selfish Officials Are Doomed
15 The Lord All-Powerful is sending me with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:
16 Shebna, what gives you the right to have a tomb carved out of rock in this burial place of royalty? None of your relatives are buried here. 17 You may be powerful, but the Lord is about to snatch you up and throw you away. 18 He will roll you into a ball and throw you into a wide open country, where you will die and your chariots will be destroyed. You're a disgrace to those you serve.
19 The Lord is going to take away your job! 20-21 He will give your official robes and your authority to his servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the royal family of Judah. 22 (B) The Lord will put him in charge of the key that belongs to King David's family. No one will be able to unlock what he locks, and no one will be able to lock what he unlocks. 23 The Lord will make him as firm in his position as a tent peg hammered in the ground, and Eliakim will bring honor to his family.
24 His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall. 25 That peg is fastened firmly now, but someday it will be shaken loose and fall down. Then everything that was hanging on it will be destroyed. This is what the Lord All-Powerful has promised.
Footnotes
- 22.1 Vision Valley: The exact location is not known. In Hebrew the name sounds something like “Hinnom Valley,” where the people of Jerusalem sometimes offered human sacrifices to the gods of Canaan.
- 22.1 flat roofs: In Palestine the houses usually had a flat roof. Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was made of beams and boards covered with packed earth.
- 22.3 No matter … caught: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 22.5 and for … help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 22.6 Elam and Kir: Regions in the Iranian highlands.
- 22.6 chariots: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 22.8 Forest Palace: Built by Solomon (1 Kings 7.2) and used as a place for storing weapons.
- 22.9 the lower pool: Mentioned only here; probably in the southern part of the Central Valley (Tyropoean Valley) of Jerusalem.
- 22.11 between the walls: Some cities had two walls with a space between them. If the enemy broke through the outer wall, the city was still protected by the inner wall. The houses that were torn down to repair the outer wall were probably squatters' huts that had been built between the two walls.
Isaiah 22
New International Version
Isaiah 22
New International Version
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
22 A prophecy(A) against the Valley(B) of Vision:(C)
What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up on the roofs,(D)
2 you town so full of commotion,
you city of tumult(E) and revelry?(F)
Your slain(G) were not killed by the sword,(H)
nor did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled(I) together;
they have been captured(J) without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far away.
4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
let me weep(K) bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of my people.”(L)
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day(M)
of tumult and trampling(N) and terror(O)
in the Valley of Vision,(P)
a day of battering down walls(Q)
and of crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam(R) takes up the quiver,(S)
with her charioteers and horses;
Kir(T) uncovers the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys(U) are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the city gates.(V)
8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
and you looked in that day(W)
to the weapons(X) in the Palace of the Forest.(Y)
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
were broken through(Z) in many places;
you stored up water
in the Lower Pool.(AA)
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
and tore down houses(AB) to strengthen the wall.(AC)
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls(AD)
for the water of the Old Pool,(AE)
but you did not look to the One who made it,
or have regard(AF) for the One who planned(AG) it long ago.
12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
called you on that day(AH)
to weep(AI) and to wail,
to tear out your hair(AJ) and put on sackcloth.(AK)
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,(AL)
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!(AM)
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”(AN)
14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:(AO) “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned(AP) for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
“Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna(AQ) the palace(AR) administrator:(AS)
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission
to cut out a grave(AT) for yourself(AU) here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
17 “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
and hurl(AV) you away, you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball
and throw(AW) you into a large country.
There you will die
and there the chariots(AX) you were so proud of
will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19 I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted(AY) from your position.(AZ)
20 “In that day(BA) I will summon my servant,(BB) Eliakim(BC) son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash(BD) around him and hand your authority(BE) over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder(BF) the key(BG) to the house of David;(BH) what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.(BI) 23 I will drive him like a peg(BJ) into a firm place;(BK) he will become a seat[a] of honor(BL) for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,(BM)” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg(BN) driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.(BO)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:23 Or throne
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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