Vision of Jerusalem’s Catastrophe
22 The burden of the Valley of Vision:
What is the matter with you now?
For you have gone up to the rooftops.
2 You were full of noise,
a boisterous city, an exultant town?
Your dead were not slain with the sword,
nor dead in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together,
then captured without a bow.
All who were caught were taken into exile together,
though they had fled far off.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me!
Let me weep bitterly—
don’t try to comfort me
about the ruin of the daughter of my people.”
5 For my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot has a day
of panic, trampling and confusion—
in the Valley of Vision—
of tearing down a wall,
a catastrophe on the mountain.
6 Elam took up the quiver,
with chariots of men and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 So it will come to pass that your choicest valleys will be full of chariots and horsemen posted at the gate. 8 So He will expose Judah’s defense, and in that day you will look for the armor in the Forest House. 9 Then you will see the breaches in the walls of the city of David—for they will be many—though you collect the water of the lower pool. 10 Though you counted the houses of Jerusalem, you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You even made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool—but you did not look to the Maker, or consider the One who planned it long before.
12 Now in that day, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
will call for weeping and wailing,
for baldness and putting on sackcloth.
13 But instead, there is joy and gladness,
slaughtering cattle and killing sheep,
meat and drinking wine!
“Let’s eat and drink,
for tomorrow we will die!”
14 But Adonai-Tzva’ot revealed in my ears:
“Surely this sin will not be atoned for until you die,”
says my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot.
15 Thus says my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house: 16 ‘What are you doing here, and who are you to be here, that you cut out a grave for yourself, carving out a tomb on the height, chiseling a crypt for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, strong man, Adonai is about to hurl you headlong, and seize you firmly. 18 He will roll you up tightly and toss you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be the shame of your Master’s house. 19 I will remove you from your post, and pull you down from your station.
20 “In that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him in your robe and fasten your sash on him. I will give your authority into his hands, so he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will set the key[a] of the house of David upon his shoulder—what he opens, no one can shut; what he shuts, and no one can open. 23 I will fasten him as a peg in a firm place, and he will be a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 They will hang all the glory of his father’s house on him—offspring and posterity, all the small vessels, from bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “the peg that was fastened in a firm place will give way, break away and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off.” For Adonai has spoken.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:22 cf. Rev. 3:7.