Isaiah 22
22
God’s Message to Jerusalem
1This is a message about the Valley of Vision:
What is wrong with you people?
Why are you on your roofs?
2This city was a very busy city,
full of noise and wild parties.
Now your people have been killed,
but not with swords,
nor did they die in battle.
3All your leaders ran away together,
but they have been captured without using a bow.
All you who were captured
tried to run away before the enemy came.
4So I say, “Don’t look at me.
Let me cry loudly.
Don’t hurry to comfort me
about the destruction of Jerusalem.”
5The Lord God All-Powerful has chosen a special day
of riots and confusion.
People will trample each other in the Valley of Vision.
The city walls will be knocked down,
and the people will cry out to the mountain.
6The soldiers from Elam will gather their arrows
and their chariots and men on horses.
Kir will prepare their shields.
7Your nicest valleys will be filled with chariots.
Horsemen will be ordered to guard the gates of the city.
8The walls protecting Judah will fall.
At that time the people of Jerusalem depended on
the weapons kept at the Palace of the Forest.
9You saw that the walls of Jerusalem
had many cracks that needed repairing.
You stored up water in the lower pool.
10You counted the houses of Jerusalem,
and you tore down houses to repair the walls with their stones.
11You made a pool between the two walls
to save water from the old pool,
but you did not trust the God who made these things;
you did not respect the One who planned them long ago.
12The Lord God All-Powerful told the people
to cry and be sad,
to shave their heads and wear rough cloth.
13But look, the people are happy
and are having wild parties.
They kill the cattle and the sheep;
they eat the food and drink the wine.
They say, “Let us eat and drink,
because tomorrow we will die.”
14The Lord All-Powerful said to me: “You people will die before this guilt is forgiven.” The Lord God All-Powerful said this.
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.
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Isaiah 22: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 22
22
A Message about Jerusalem
1This is a message about the Valley of Vision.
What is happening? Why are all the people of the city celebrating on the roofs of the houses? 2The whole city is in an uproar, filled with noise and excitement.
Your people who died in this war did not die fighting. 3All your leaders ran away and were captured before they shot a single arrow. 4Now leave me alone to weep bitterly over all those of my people who have died. Don't try to comfort me. 5This is a time of panic, defeat, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, and the Sovereign LORD Almighty has sent it on us. The walls of our city have been battered down, and cries for help have echoed among the hills.
6The soldiers from the land of Elam came riding on horseback, armed with bows and arrows. Soldiers from the land of Kir had their shields ready. 7The fertile valleys of Judah were filled with chariots; soldiers on horseback stood in front of Jerusalem's gates. 8All Judah's defences crumbled.
When that happened, you brought weapons out of the arsenal. 9-10You found the places where the walls of Jerusalem needed repair. You inspected all the houses in Jerusalem and tore some of them down to get stones to repair the city walls. In order to store water, 11you built a reservoir inside the city to hold the water flowing down from the old pool. But you paid no attention to God, who planned all this long ago and who caused it to happen.
12The Sovereign LORD Almighty was calling you then to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth. 13#1 Cor 15.32Instead, you laughed and celebrated. You killed sheep and cattle to eat, and you drank wine. You said, “We might as well eat and drink! Tomorrow we'll be dead.”
14The Sovereign LORD Almighty himself spoke to me and said, “This evil will never be forgiven them as long as they live. I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, have spoken.”
A Warning to Shebna
15The Sovereign LORD Almighty told me to go to Shebna, the manager of the royal household, and say to him, 16“Who do you think you are? What right have you to carve a tomb for yourself out of the rocky hillside? 17You may be important, but the LORD will pick you up and throw you away. 18He will pick you up like a ball and throw you into a much larger country. You will die there beside the chariots you were so proud of. You are a disgrace to your master's household. 19The LORD will remove you from office and bring you down from your high position.”
20The LORD said to Shebna, “When that happens, I will send for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21I will put your official robe and belt on him and give him all the authority you have had. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. 22#Rev 3.7I will give him complete authority under the king, the descendant of David. He will have the keys of office; what he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open. 23I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, and he will be a source of honour to his whole family.
24“But all his relatives and dependants will become a burden to him. They will hang on him like pots and bowls hanging from a peg! 25When that happens, the peg that was firmly fastened will work loose and fall. And that will be the end of everything that was hanging on it.” The LORD has spoken.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.