Isaiah 22:1–14

Oracle against Jerusalem

22The oracle of the valley of vision:

What business do you have going^a up, all of you, to the roofs,

²noisy,^b tumultuous city,

exultant town?

Your slain are not slain by the sword,

nor are they dead from battle.

³All 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.

⁴Therefore 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.”

⁵For 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

⁶And Elam lifted up the quiver,

with chariots^h of menⁱ and cavalry.

And Kir uncovered the shield.

⁷And this happened:

the choicest of your valleys were full of chariots,^j

and the cavalry confidently stood at the gate.

⁸And he uncovered the covering of Judah.

And you looked, on that day, to the weapons^k of the House of the Forest,

⁹and you saw that the breaches in the walls of the city of David were many,

and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰And you counted the houses of Jerusalem,

and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

¹¹And 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

¹²And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called on that day

for weeping and mourning,

and for baldness and girding with^m sackcloth.

¹³But look! Joy and gladness,

the killing of oxenⁿ and the slaughtering of sheep,

the eating of meat and the drinking of wine!

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴And 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.