A Warning of Destruction of Jerusalem
22 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
What has happened that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,(A)
2 city full of shouting,
tumultuous city, panic-stricken town?
Your slain are not slain by the sword,
nor are they dead in battle.(B)
3 Your rulers have all fled together;
they were captured without the use of a bow.[a]
All of your people who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.[b](C)
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
let me weep bitter tears;
do not try to comfort me
for the destruction of my beloved people.”(D)
5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a cry for help to the mountains.(E)
6 Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and cavalry,[c]
and Kir uncovered the shield.(F)
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the cavalry took their stand at the gates.(G)
8 He has taken away the covering of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,(H)9 and you saw that there were many breaches in the city of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool.(I)10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it or have regard for him who planned it long ago.(J)
12 On that day the Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for baldness and putting on sackcloth,(K)
13 but instead there was joy and festivity,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating meat and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”(L)
14 The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.(M)
Denunciation of Self-Seeking Officials
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Go to the steward Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him:(N)16 What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here, that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb[d] on the height and carving a habitation for yourself[e] in the rock?(O)17 The Lord is about to hurl you away violently, my fellow. He will seize firm hold on you, 18 whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there your splendid chariots shall lie, O you disgrace to your master’s house!(P)19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.
20 “On that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah(Q)21 and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open.(R)23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house.(S)24 And they will hang on him the whole weight of his ancestral house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way; it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will perish, for the Lord has spoken.”(T)
Footnotes
- 22.3Or without their bows
- 22.3Gk Syr Vg: Heb fled from far away
- 22.6Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 22.16Gk Vg: Heb his tomb
- 22.16Gk Vg: Heb himself
Cross references
- 22.1 : Isa 13.1; 15.3; Joel 3.12, 14
- 22.2 : Isa 32.13; Jer 14.18; Lam 2.20
- 22.3 : Isa 21.15
- 22.4 : Isa 15.3; Jer 4.19; 9.1
- 22.5 : v 1; Isa 37.3; 63.3; Lam 1.5; 2.2
- 22.6 : 2 Kings 16.9; Jer 49.35
- 22.7 : 2 Chr 32.1
- 22.8 : 1 Kings 7.2; 10.17; 2 Chr 32.3–5, 30
- 22.9 : Neh 3.16
- 22.11 : 2 Kings 20.20; 25.4; 2 Chr 32.3, 4; Isa 37.26
- 22.12 : Isa 15.2; Joel 1.13; Mic 1.16
- 22.13 : Isa 5.11, 22; 56.12; 1 Cor 15.32
- 22.14 : Isa 5.9; 65.7, 20
- 22.15 : 2 Kings 18.37; Isa 36.3
- 22.16 : 2 Sam 18.18; 2 Chr 16.14; Mt 27.60
- 22.18 : Job 18.18; Isa 17.13
- 22.20 : 2 Kings 18.18; Isa 36.3
- 22.22 : Job 12.14; Isa 7.2, 13; Rev 3.7
- 22.23 : Ezra 9.8; Job 36.7
- 22.25 : v 23; Isa 46.11; Mic 4.4