Isaiah 22
22
The Valley of Vision
1Oracle on the Valley of Vision:#The title “oracle on the valley of vision,” like the other oracle headings in chaps. 13–23, was supplied by an editor and is taken from v. 5. In all probability it relates to the events of 701, the lifting of Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem. The death of the Assyrian king Sargon II in 705 occasioned the revolt of many of the vassal nations subject to Assyria, a revolt in which Hezekiah joined, over Isaiah’s bitter opposition. The biblical and other data concerning the outcome of this adventure are conflicting and confusing. While 2 Kgs 19 (Is 37) tells of a miraculous deliverance of the city after the siege had been renewed, Assyrian documents and 2 Kgs 18:13–16 report that Sennacherib, Sargon II’s successor, devastated Judah (the destruction of forty-six cities is mentioned in Assyrian records); Hezekiah had to surrender and paid Sennacherib a heavy indemnity, taken from the Temple treasury and adornments. The inhabitants of Jerusalem apparently took the lifting of the siege as occasion for great rejoicing, a response that Isaiah condemns. They should be mourning the dead and learning that their confidence in allies rather than in the Lord leads to disaster. #Is 21:2.
What is the matter with you now, that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2#The retreat of Judah’s soldiers is a further reason that rejoicing is not in order. You who were full of noise,
tumultuous city,
exultant town?#Is 32:13.
Your slain are not slain with the sword,
nor killed in battle.
3All your leaders fled away together,
they were captured without use of bow;
All who were found were captured together,
though they had fled afar off.
4That is why I say: Turn away from me,
let me weep bitterly;
Do not try to comfort me
for the ruin of the daughter of my people.#Jer 6:26; 9:1; 14:17.
5It is a day of panic, rout and confusion,
from the Lord, the God of hosts, in the Valley of Vision#Valley of Vision: frequently identified as the Hinnom Valley, west of Jerusalem.
Walls crash;
a cry for help to the mountains.
6Elam takes up the quiver,
Aram mounts the horses
and Kir#Elam…Kir: the Assyrian forces presumably included auxiliary troops from various places. uncovers the shields.
7Your choice valleys are filled with chariots,
horses are posted at the gates—
8and shelter over Judah is removed.#Shelter over Judah is removed: the reference is obscure; it has been suggested that Judah’s protection was Jerusalem itself, and with the fall of the city the country was exposed. House of the Forest: an armory built by Solomon; its columns of wood suggested the trees of a forest; cf. 1 Kgs 7:2; 10:17.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest; 9#Frenetic efforts made to fortify the city before the impending siege; cf. 2 Kgs 20:20; 2 Chr 32:3–4, 30. Some suggest that the description of these preparations comes from the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s assault on Jerusalem in 588. You did not look to the city’s Maker: Isaiah here makes the crucial point. Jerusalem’s safety lay not in military forces nor in alliances with other nations nor in playing power politics but in the Lord, here presented as the creator and founder of the city. Isaiah may be alluding to the belief that the city was inviolable. you saw that the breaches in the City of David were many; you collected the water of the lower pool. 10You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, tearing some down to strengthen the wall; 11you made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to the city’s Maker, nor consider the one who fashioned it long ago.
12On that day the Lord,
the God of hosts, called
For weeping and mourning,
for shaving the head and wearing sackcloth.
13But look! instead, there was celebration and joy,
slaughtering cattle and butchering sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine:
“Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”#Is 56:12; Wis 2:6; 1 Cor 15:32.
14This message was revealed in my hearing from the Lord of hosts:
This iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,
says the Lord, the God of hosts.
Shebna and Eliakim
15Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
Up, go to that official,
Shebna,#Shebna: by the time of the siege of Jerusalem in 36:3, Shebna, the scribe, no longer held the office of master of the palace. master of the palace,
16#What is probably Shebna’s inscribed tomb has been discovered in the village of Silwan on the eastern slope of Jerusalem. “What have you here? Whom have you here,
that you have hewn for yourself a tomb here,
Hewing a tomb on high,
carving a resting place in the rock?”
17The Lord shall hurl you down headlong, mortal man!
He shall grip you firmly,
18And roll you up and toss you like a ball
into a broad land.
There you will die, there with the chariots you glory in,
you disgrace to your master’s house!
19I will thrust you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
20On that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim,#Eliakim: by the time of the events described in 36:3, Eliakim had replaced Shebna as master of the palace. son of Hilkiah;#2 Kgs 18:18, 37.
21I will clothe him with your robe,
gird him with your sash,
confer on him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.#Jb 29:16.
22I will place the key#Key: symbol of authority; cf. Mt 16:19; Rev 3:7. of the House of David on his shoulder;
what he opens, no one will shut,
what he shuts, no one will open.#Rev 3:7.
23I will fix him as a peg in a firm place,
a seat of honor for his ancestral house;
24On him shall hang all the glory of his ancestral house:#Apparently Eliakim proved to be a disappointment, so an oracle of judgment was added to the originally positive oracle to Eliakim.
descendants and offspring,
all the little dishes, from bowls to jugs.
25On that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg fixed in a firm place shall give way, break off and fall, and the weight that hung on it shall be done away with; for the Lord has spoken.
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 22: NABRE
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Isaiah 22
22
A Message about Jerusalem
1This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision#22:1 Hebrew concerning 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#22:8 Hebrew to the House of the Forest; see 1 Kgs 7:2-5. for your weapons.
9You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.#22:9 Hebrew the city of David.
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.
A Message for Shebna
15This is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:
16“Who do you think you are,
and what are you doing here,
building a beautiful tomb for yourself—
a monument high up in the rock?
17For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man.
He is going to grab you,
18crumple you into a ball,
and toss you away into a distant, barren land.
There you will die,
and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.
You are a disgrace to your master!
19“Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the Lord. “I will pull you down from your high position. 20And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. 21I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. 22I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. 23He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. 24They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.#22:24 Hebrew They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: its offspring and offshoots, all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.”
25But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies also says: “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT: