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
English Standard Version
An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
22 The (A)oracle concerning (B)the valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2 you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, (C)exultant town?
Your slain are (D)not slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3 (E)All your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
(F)let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 (G)For the Lord God of hosts has (H)a day
of tumult and (I)trampling and (J)confusion
in (K)the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And (L)Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and (M)Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8 He has taken away (N)the covering of Judah.
In that day you looked to (O)the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that (P)the breaches of the city of David were many. (Q)You collected 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 (R)You made a reservoir between (S)the two walls for the water of (T)the old pool. But (U)you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
12 In that day (V)the Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for (W)baldness and (X)wearing sackcloth;
13 and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
(Y)“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 The Lord of hosts (Z)has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely (AA)this iniquity will not be atoned for you (AB)until you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to (AC)Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, (AD)that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you (AE)who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. (AF)He will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be (AG)your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. 19 (AH)I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant (AI)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and (AJ)I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be (AK)a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place (AL)on his shoulder (AM)the key of the house of David. (AN)He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him (AO)like a peg in a secure place, and he will become (AP)a throne of honor to his father's house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, (AQ)the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
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