Isaiah 22
22
A Country of Cowards
1-3A Message concerning the Valley of Vision:
What’s going on here anyway?
All this partying and noisemaking,
Shouting and cheering in the streets,
the city noisy with celebrations!
You have no brave soldiers to honor,
no combat heroes to be proud of.
Your leaders were all cowards,
captured without even lifting a sword,
A country of cowards
captured escaping the battle.
You Looked, but You Never Looked to Him
4-8a In the midst of the shouting, I said, “Let me alone.
Let me grieve by myself.
Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right.
These people are doomed. It’s not all right.”
For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people,
Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision,
knocking down walls
and hollering to the mountains, “Attack! Attack!”
Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth—
weapons and chariots and cavalry.
Your fine valleys are noisy with war,
chariots and cavalry charging this way and that.
God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.
8b-11 You assessed your defenses that Day, inspected your arsenal of weapons in the Forest Armory. You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool. You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall. You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water.
You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.
12-13The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
called out on that Day,
Called for a day of repentant tears,
called you to dress in somber clothes of mourning.
But what do you do? You throw a party!
Eating and drinking and dancing in the streets!
You barbecue bulls and sheep, and throw a huge feast—
slabs of meat, kegs of beer.
“Seize the day! Eat and drink!
Tomorrow we die!”
14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies whispered to me his verdict on this frivolity: “You’ll pay for this outrage until the day you die.” The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says so.
The Key of the Davidic Heritage
15-19The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, spoke: “Come. Go to this steward, Shebna, who is in charge of all the king’s affairs, and tell him: What’s going on here? You’re an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you’re important. God is about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He’ll grab you by the hair, swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you’re out of sight. Where you’ll land, nobody knows. And there you’ll die, and all the stuff you’ve collected heaped on your grave. You’ve disgraced your master’s house! You’re fired—and good riddance!
20-24“On that Day I’ll replace Shebna. I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I’ll dress him in your robe. I’ll put your belt on him. I’ll give him your authority. He’ll be a father-leader to Jerusalem and the government of Judah. I’ll give him the key of the Davidic heritage. He’ll have the run of the place—open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked. I’ll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He’ll secure the Davidic tradition. Everything will hang on him—not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery.
25“And then the Day will come,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies, “when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall—and everything hanging on it will go with it.” That’s what will happen. God says so.
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Isaiah 22: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 22
22
A Pronouncement against Jerusalem
1A pronouncement#Is 13:1 concerning the Valley of Vision:#Ps 125:2; Jr 21:13; Jl 3:12,14
What’s the matter with you?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?#Is 15:3
2The noisy city, the jubilant town,#Is 23:7; 32:13
is filled with celebration.
Your dead did not die by the sword;
they were not killed in battle.
3All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together;
they had fled far away.
4Therefore I said,
“Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!#Is 15:3; 33:7; Jr 9:1; Zch 12:10
Do not try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dear#22:4 Lit of the daughter of my people.”
5For the Lord God of Armies
had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion#Is 10:6; 37:3; 63:3
in the Valley of Vision —
people shouting#22:5 Or Vision — a tearing down of a wall, or Vision — Kir raged; Hb obscure and crying to the mountains;
6Elam took up a quiver
with chariots and horsemen,#22:6 Lit chariots of man
and Kir#2Kg 16:9; Am 1:5; 9:7 uncovered the shield.
7Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the city gates.
8He removed the defenses of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.#1Kg 7:2; 10:17 9You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David.#Lk 2:4 You collected water from the lower pool.#2Kg 20:20; Neh 3:16 10You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. 11You made a reservoir between the walls#2Kg 25:4; Jr 39:4 for the water of the ancient pool,#2Kg 20:20; 2Ch 32:3–4 but you did not look to the one who made it, or consider the one who created it long ago.
12On that day the Lord God of Armies
called for weeping,#Is 32:11; Jl 1:13; 2:17 for wailing, for shaven heads,
and for the wearing of sackcloth.
13But look: joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats,
eating of meat, and drinking of wine —
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” #Is 56:12; 1Co 15:32
14The Lord of Armies has directly revealed to me:#Is 5:9
“This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live.”#22:14 Lit for you until you die#1Sm 3:14; Ezk 24:13
The Lord God of Armies has spoken.
A Pronouncement against Shebna
15The Lord God of Armies said, “Go to Shebna,#2Kg 18:18,26,37; Is 36:3,11,22; 37:2 that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him: 16What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for yourself out of rock?#2Sm 18:18; 2Ch 16:14; Mt 27:60 17Look, you strong man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, 18wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land.#22:17–18 Hb obscure There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be — a disgrace to the house of your lord. 19I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.
20“On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.#2Kg 18:18; Is 36:3,22; 37:2 21I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will hand your authority over to him, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.#Gn 45:8; Jb 29:16 22I will place the key#Mt 16:19; Rv 3:7 of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.#Jb 12:14 23I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s family. 24They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s family: the descendants and the offshoots — all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar. 25On that day” — the declaration of the Lord of Armies — “the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken.
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