Isaiah 22

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST JERUSALEM

22A pronouncement^m concerning the Valley of Vision:ⁿ

What’s the matter with you?

Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?^o

²The noisy city, the jubilant town,^p

is filled with celebration.

Your dead did not die by the sword;

they were not killed in battle.

³All your rulers have fled together,

captured without a bow.

All your fugitives were captured together;

they had fled far away.

⁴Therefore I said,

“Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!^q

Do not try to comfort me

about the destruction of my dear^D people.”

⁵For the Lord God of Armies

had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion^r

in the Valley of Vision—

people shouting^E and crying to the mountains;

⁶Elam took up a quiver

with chariots and horsemen,^F

and Kir^s uncovered the shield.

⁷Your best valleys were full of chariots,

and horsemen were positioned at the city gates.

⁸He removed the defenses of Judah.

On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.^{t 9}You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David.^u You collected water from the lower pool.^{v 10}You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. ¹¹You made a reservoir between the walls^w for the water of the ancient pool,^x but you did not look to the one who made it, or consider the one who created it long ago.

¹²On that day the Lord God of Armies

called for weeping,^y for wailing, for shaven heads,

and for the wearing of sackcloth.

¹³But look: joy and gladness,

butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats,

eating of meat, and drinking of wine—

“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”^a

¹⁴The Lord of Armies has directly revealed to me:^b

“This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live.”^Ac

The Lord God of Armies has spoken.

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST SHEBNA

¹⁵The Lord God of Armies said, “Go to Shebna,^d that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him: ¹⁶What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for yourself out of rock?^{e 17}Look, you strong man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, ¹⁸wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land.^B There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be—a disgrace to the house of your lord. ¹⁹I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.

²⁰“On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.^{f 21}I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will hand your authority over to him, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.^{g 22}I will place the key^h of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.^{i 23}I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s family. ²⁴They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s family: the descendants and the offshoots—all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar. ²⁵On that day”—the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken.