Isaiah 22:1–14

A Message about Jerusalem

This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision:

What is happening?

Why is everyone running to the rooftops?

²The whole city is in a terrible uproar.

What do I see in this reveling city?

Bodies are lying everywhere,

killed not in battle but by famine and disease.

³All your leaders have fled.

They surrendered without resistance.

The people tried to slip away,

but they were captured, too.

⁴That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep;

do not try to comfort me.

Let me cry for my people

as I watch them being destroyed.”

⁵Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!

What a day of confusion and terror

brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

upon the Valley of Vision!

The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,

and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.

⁶Elamites are the archers,

with their chariots and charioteers.

The men of Kir hold up the shields.

⁷Chariots fill your beautiful valleys,

and charioteers storm your gates.

⁸Judah’s defenses have been stripped away.

You run to the armory for your weapons.

⁹You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.

You store up water in the lower pool.

¹⁰You survey the houses and tear some down

for stone to strengthen the walls.

¹¹Between the city walls, you build a reservoir

for water from the old pool.

But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.

You never considered the One who planned this long ago.

¹²At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

called you to weep and mourn.

He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins

and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.

¹³But instead, you dance and play;

you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.

You feast on meat and drink wine.

You say, “Let’s feast and drink,

for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.