Isaiah 22
Modern English Version
An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
22 The oracle of the Valley of Vision.
What ails you now,
that you all have gone up to the housetops,
2 you who were full of noise,
a tumultuous city, a joyous city?
Your slain are not slain with the sword,
nor did they die in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together;
they are captured by the archers.
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
although they had fled from afar.
4 Therefore, I say, “Look away from me,
I will weep bitterly;
do not try to comfort me
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 For it is a day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexity
by the Lord God of Hosts
in the Valley of Vision,
a breaking down of the walls
and a crying to the mountains.
6 Elam took up the quiver
with chariots of men and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots,
and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
8 And He shall remove the protection of Judah.
You shall depend in that day
on the weapons of the house of the forest;
9 you have seen also that the breaches
of the City of David are many;
and you gathered together the waters
of the lower pool.
10 You have numbered the houses of Jerusalem,
and the houses you have broken down to fortify the wall.
11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the old pool.
But you have not looked to its Maker,
nor did you respect Him who fashioned it long ago.
12 In that day the Lord God of Hosts
called you to weeping and mourning,
and to tear your hair and wear sackcloth.
13 Yet, there is joy and gladness,
slaying of oxen and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking wine:
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we may die.”
14 It was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of Hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord God of Hosts.
15 Thus says the Lord God of Hosts:
Come, go to this treasurer,
even to Shebna, who is over the royal household, and say:
16 What right do you have here? And whom do you have here
that you have dug out for yourself a tomb here,
as he who hews out for himself a tomb on high,
and who cuts a habitation for himself in a rock?
17 Indeed, the Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man;
He is about to seize you firmly.
18 He will surely violently turn
and toss you like a ball into a large country;
there you shall die,
and there the chariots of your glory shall be
the shame of your lord’s house.
19 I will drive you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
20 In that day I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. 21 And I will clothe him with your robe and tie him securely with your sash. And I will entrust him with your authority, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder. Then he shall open, and no one shall shut. And he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23 I will fasten him as a nail in a firm place, and he shall become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24 They shall hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the bowls to all the jars.
25 In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, the nail that is fastened in the firm place shall be removed, and be cut down and fall. And the load that was on it shall be cut off, for the Lord has spoken it.
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”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
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