Isaiah 22
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
22 An oracle about the Valley of Vision.
What is troubling you now?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?
2 Why is the town full of shouting?
Why is the joyful city full of turmoil?
Your fallen were not run through with the sword.
Your dead did not fall in battle.
3 All your rulers fled together,
captured by archers without bows.
All your refugees were caught together.
They had fled far away.
4 That is why I said,
“Look away from me.
I will weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter
of my people.”[a]
5 For it is a day of turmoil, trampling, and terror.
This has come from the Lord, the God of Armies,
in the Valley of Vision.
It is a day for breaking down walls
and crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam picks up the quiver, with chariots and charioteers,
and Kir removes the covering from their shields.
7 Your fertile[b] valleys are full of chariots,
and charioteers[c] are posted by the gate.
8 He removed the cover that was protecting Judah.
On that day you looked for the weapons in the House of the Forest.
9 You saw all the breaches through the walls of the City of David—
and there were many.
You collected water from the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem.
You planned to tear them down to strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water from the Old Pool.
But you did not look to the one who had made it.
You did not consider the one who shaped this long ago.
12 On that day the Lord, the God of Armies,
called for weeping and loud mourning.
He called for shaved heads and for dressing in sackcloth.
13 But take a look and see:
joy and gladness,
butchering cattle, killing sheep,
eating meat, and drinking wine.
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
14 The Lord of Armies has revealed this in my hearing: “I swear, your guilt will not be atoned for until your dying day, says the Lord, the God of Armies.”
An Oracle Against Shebna
15 This is what the Lord, the God of Armies, says.
Go to this administrator Shebna, who is in charge of the palace, and ask him, 16 “What are you doing here? Who gave you permission to carve a tomb here?”
(Shebna was carving out a tomb for himself on a height, chiseling a resting place for himself in the cliff!)
17 Watch out! The Lord is going to hurl you away violently, you ordinary man.[d] He is going to grab you tightly, 18 whirl you around and around,[e] and throw you like a ball into the open countryside. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be there, to the shame of your master’s house. 19 I will expel you from your office. You will be thrown out from your position.
20 On that day I will call for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be a father for those who live in Jerusalem and for the house of Judah. 22 I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder. Whatever he opens, no one will shut. Whatever he shuts, no one will open. 23 I will drive him like a nail into a solid place. He will be an honored throne for the house of his father. 24 They will hang all the splendor of his father’s house on him: the branches and leaves,[f] and all the small containers, from the large bowls all the way down to the smallest juglets.[g]
25 In that day, says the Lord of Armies, the nail that was driven into a solid place will give way. It will be sheared off and fall down. The load hanging on it will be cut off, because the Lord has spoken.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:4 Or my dear people. The term the daughter of my people is an affectionate way of referring to the people of Israel.
- Isaiah 22:7 Or strategic
- Isaiah 22:7 Or horsemen
- Isaiah 22:17 The Hebrew word is geber, man or mister, not gibbor, the word for a mighty military man.
- Isaiah 22:18 Or wrap you up tightly. This verse is difficult.
- Isaiah 22:24 Or the offspring and the offshoots or the produce and hidden treasure. The meaning of this term is uncertain, but it seems to mean from A to Z.
- Isaiah 22:24 Juglet is the archaeological term for the smallest jars in Israel’s pottery repertoire. The smallest, probably serving as containers for perfumed oil, were only a couple of inches tall.
Isaiah 22
Lexham English Bible
Oracle against Jerusalem
22 The oracle of the valley of vision:
What business do you have going[a] up, all of you, to the roofs,
2 noisy,[b] tumultuous city,
exultant town?
Your slain are not slain by the sword,
nor are they dead from battle.
3 All of your rulers have fled together without a bow;
all of you who were found[c] were captured.
They were captured together;
they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said,
“Look away from me,
let me weep bitterly;[d]
you must not insist on comforting me
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion[e] in the valley of vision,
a tearing down of walls[f] and a cry for help to the mountains.[g]
6 And Elam lifted up the quiver,
with chariots[h] of men[i] and cavalry.
And Kir uncovered the shield.
7 And this happened:
the choicest of your valleys were full of chariots,[j]
and the cavalry confidently stood at the gate.
8 And he uncovered the covering of Judah.
And you looked, on that day, to the weapons[k] of the House of the Forest,
9 and you saw that the breaches in the walls of the city of David were many,
and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.
10 And you counted the houses of Jerusalem,
and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11 And you made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the old pool,
but you did not look to its maker,
and you did not see the one who created it long ago.[l]
12 And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called on that day
for weeping and mourning,
and for baldness and girding with[m] sackcloth.
13 But look! Joy and gladness,
the killing of oxen[n] and the slaughtering of sheep,
the eating of meat and the drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
14 And it was revealed in my ears by Yahweh of hosts:
“Surely this sin will not be atoned for you until you die!”
says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
Oracle regarding Shebna
15 The Lord, Yahweh of hosts, says this:
“Go! Go to this steward, to Shebna,
who is over the house:
16 ‘What business do you have[o] here,
and who do you have[p] here,
that you have cut a grave cutting here for yourself,
carving his grave on the height,
a dwelling place for him in the rock?
17 Look! Yahweh is about to really hurl[q] you, man!
And he is about to grasp you firmly;
18 he will wind a winding tightly around you like a ball, to a wide land.[r]
There you shall die,
and there the chariots of your splendor will be,
disgrace to your master’s house!
19 And I will push you from your office,
and he will throw you down from your position.
20 And this shall happen:
On that day I will call to my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah,
21 and I will clothe him with your tunic,
and I will bind your sash firmly about him,
and I will put your authority into his hand,
and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants[s] of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22 And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder,
and he shall open and no one will be able to shut;
and he shall shut and no one will be able to open.
23 And I will drive him in like a peg into a secure place,
and he will become like a throne of glory to the house of his father.
24 And they will hang all of the heaviness of his father’s house on him,
the offspring and the offshoot,
all of the small vessels,
from the bowls to the jars.[t]
25 On that day, declares[u] Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was driven will move away into a secure place, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on her will be cut off. For Yahweh has spoken.’”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:1 Literally “What to you then that you have gone”
- Isaiah 22:2 Literally “full of noises”
- Isaiah 22:3 Literally “your found ones”
- Isaiah 22:4 Literally “be bitter in weeping”
- Isaiah 22:5 These three Hebrew words are alliterative: mehûmâûmeḇûsâûmeḇûḵâ
- Isaiah 22:5 Hebrew “wall”
- Isaiah 22:5 Hebrew “mountain”
- Isaiah 22:6 Hebrew “chariot”
- Isaiah 22:6 Hebrew “man”
- Isaiah 22:7 Hebrew “chariot”
- Isaiah 22:8 Hebrew “weapon”
- Isaiah 22:11 Literally “its creator from far away”
- Isaiah 22:12 Literally “of”
- Isaiah 22:13 Hebrew “ox”
- Isaiah 22:16 Literally “to you”
- Isaiah 22:16 Literally “to you”
- Isaiah 22:17 Literally “hurl a hurling”
- Isaiah 22:18 Literally “land broad of sides”
- Isaiah 22:21 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Isaiah 22:24 Literally “vessels of the bowls to all of the vessels of the jars”
- Isaiah 22:25 Literally “declaration of”
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