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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Isaiah 22: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. 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.
Isaiah 22
22
The Valley of Vision
1The [mournful, inspired] oracle (#I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.a burden to be carried) concerning the Valley of Vision:
What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,
2You [Jerusalem] who were full of noise,
A tumultuous city, a joyous and exuberant city;
Your slain were not slain [in a glorious death] with the sword,
Nor did they die in battle.
3All your leaders have fled together [with your king],
And have been captured without the bow [which they had thrown away];
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
Though they had fled far away.
4Therefore I say, “Look away from me;
Let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic and of tumult, of trampling, of confusion
In the Valley of Vision,
A [day of] breaking down walls
And a crying [for help] to the mountain.
6Elam took up the quiver
With the chariots, infantry and horsemen;
And Kir uncovered the shield.
7And it came to pass that your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
And the horsemen took their fixed positions [in an offensive array] at the gate [of Jerusalem].
8Then God removed the [protective] covering of Judah;
And in that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest (Solomon’s armory).
9You saw that the breaches
In the wall of the City of David [the citadel of Zion] were many;
You collected [within the city’s walls] the waters of the Lower Pool (Siloam).
10Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem
And you tore down the houses [to get materials] to fortify the city wall [by extending it].
11You also made a reservoir between the two walls
For the waters of the #Perhaps a reference to the Gihon Spring, also called the Upper Pool.Old Pool,
But you did not look to its Maker,
Nor did you recognize Him who planned it long ago.
12Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning,
To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].
13Instead, there is joy and jubilation,
Killing of oxen and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine, saying,
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”
14But the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in my ears,
“This sin absolutely will not be forgiven you
Until you die,” says the Lord God of hosts.
15For the Lord God of hosts says this, “Go to this [contemptible] steward,
To #Shebna would have been second in command to King Hezekiah before being deposed from steward (administrator) to the position of scribe (36:3).Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [but is building himself a tomb worthy of a king, and say to him],
16‘What business do you have here?
And whom do you have here,
That you have hewn out a tomb here for yourself,
You who hew a sepulcher on the height,
You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?
17Listen carefully, the Lord is about to hurl you away violently, O man;
And He is about to grasp you firmly
18And roll you up tightly like a ball
And toss you into a vast country;
There you will die
And there your splendid chariots will be,
You shame of your master’s house.’
19I will depose you from your office,
And you will be pulled down from your position [of importance].
20Then it will come to pass in that day
That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.
21And I will clothe him with your tunic [of distinction]
And tie your sash securely around him.
I will entrust him with your authority;
He will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22Then I will set on his shoulder the key of the house of David;
When he opens no one will shut,
When he shuts no one will open.
23I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,
And he will become a throne of honor and glory to his father’s house.
24So they will hang on him all the honor and glory [the complete responsibility] of his father’s house, offspring and issue [of the family, high and low], all the least of the articles, from the bowls to all the jars. 25In that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “the peg (Eliakim) that was driven into the firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the burden hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
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