Isaiah 22:15–25

God’s Message to Shebna

¹⁵This is what the Lord God All-Powerful says:

“Go to this servant Shebna,

the manager of the palace.

¹⁶Say to him, ‘What are you doing here?

Who said you could cut out a tomb for your self here?

Why are you preparing your tomb in a high place?

Why are you carving out a tomb from the rock?

¹⁷Look, mighty one! The Lord will throw you away.

He will take firm hold of you

¹⁸and roll you tightly into a ball

and throw you into another country.

There you will die,

and there your fine chariots will remain.

You are a disgrace to your master’s house.

¹⁹I will force you out of your important job,

and you will be thrown down from your important place.’

²⁰“At that time I will call for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. ²¹I will take your robe and put it on him and give him your belt. I will hand over to him the important job you have, and he will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and the family of Judah. ²²I will put the key to the house of David around his neck. If he opens a door, no one will be able to close it; if he closes a door, no one will be able to open it. ²³He will be like an honored chair in his father’s house. I will make him strong like a peg that is hammered into a strong board. ²⁴All the honored and important things of his family will depend on him; all the adults and little children will depend on him. They will be like bowls and jars hanging on him.

²⁵“At that time,” says the Lord All-Powerful, “the peg hammered into the strong board will weaken. It will break and fall, and everything hanging on it will be destroyed.” The Lord says this.