Isaiah 22
22
Trouble in Vision Valley
1This is a message about Vision Valley:#22.1 Vision Valley: The exact location is not known. In Hebrew the name sounds something like “Hinnom Valley,” where the people of Jerusalem sometimes offered human sacrifices to the gods of Canaan.
Why are you celebrating
on the flat roofs#22.1 flat roofs: In Palestine the houses usually had a flat roof. Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was made of beams and boards covered with packed earth.
of your houses?
2Your city is filled
with noisy shouts.
Those who lie drunk
in your streets
were not killed in battle.
3Your leaders ran away,
but they were captured
without a fight.
No matter how far they ran,
they were found and caught.#22.3 No matter … caught: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4Then I said, “Leave me alone!
Let me cry bitter tears.
My people have been destroyed,
so don't try to comfort me.”
5The Lord All-Powerful
had chosen a time
for noisy shouts and confusion
to fill Vision Valley,
and for everyone to beg
the mountains for help.#22.5 and for … help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
6The people of Elam and Kir#22.6 Elam and Kir: Regions in the Iranian highlands.
attacked with chariots#22.6 chariots: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
and carried shields.
7Your most beautiful valleys
were covered with chariots;
your cities were surrounded
by cavalry troops.
8Judah was left defenseless.
At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace.#22.8 Forest Palace: Built by Solomon (1 Kings 7.2) and used as a place for storing weapons. 9You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool.#22.9 the lower pool: Mentioned only here; probably in the southern part of the Central Valley (Tyropoean Valley) of Jerusalem. 10You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall. 11Then you built a large tank between the walls#22.11 between the walls: Some cities had two walls with a space between them. If the enemy broke through the outer wall, the city was still protected by the inner wall. The houses that were torn down to repair the outer wall were probably squatters' huts that had been built between the two walls. to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.
A Time To Weep
12When all of this happened,
the Lord All-Powerful told you
to weep and mourn,
to shave your heads,
and wear sackcloth.
13 #
1 Co 15.32. But instead, you celebrated
by feasting on beef and lamb
and by drinking wine,
because you said,
“Let's eat and drink today!
Tomorrow we may die.”
14The Lord All-Powerful
has spoken to me
this solemn promise:
“I won't forgive them for this,
not as long as they live.”
Selfish Officials Are Doomed
15The Lord All-Powerful is sending me with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:
16Shebna, what gives you the right to have a tomb carved out of rock in this burial place of royalty? None of your relatives are buried here. 17You may be powerful, but the Lord is about to snatch you up and throw you away. 18He will roll you into a ball and throw you into a wide open country, where you will die and your chariots will be destroyed. You're a disgrace to those you serve.
19The Lord is going to take away your job! 20-21He will give your official robes and your authority to his servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the royal family of Judah. 22#Rev 3.7. The Lord will put him in charge of the key that belongs to King David's family. No one will be able to unlock what he locks, and no one will be able to lock what he unlocks. 23The Lord will make him as firm in his position as a tent peg hammered in the ground, and Eliakim will bring honor to his family.
24His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall. 25That peg is fastened firmly now, but someday it will be shaken loose and fall down. Then everything that was hanging on it will be destroyed. This is what the Lord All-Powerful has promised.
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Isaiah 22: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 22
22
Jerusalemites rebuked
1An oracle about the Valley of Vision.
What is wrong with you,
that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
2you who are filled with noise,
you roaring city, you party town?
Your dead weren’t slaughtered by the sword;
they didn’t die in battle.
3All your leaders escaped together
but were captured without a single bow shot.
All your escapees were bound together, even though they fled far away.#22.3 Heb uncertain
4Therefore, I said, “Don’t look at me;
let me weep bitterly.
Don’t try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dearly loved people.”
5The LORD God of heavenly forces has a day of tumult and trampling and turmoil in the Valley of Vision,
a breaking down of walls,
a cry for help to the mountains.
6Elam carried the quiver with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7Your finest valleys were filled with chariots,
and horsemen doggedly guarded the gate.
8Judah’s covering has been stripped away.
On that day, you trusted the weapons in the Forest House.
9You observed the many broken defenses in David’s City,
and you collected the waters of the lower pool.
10You counted Jerusalem’s houses,
and you tore down houses to fortify the wall.
11You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the earlier pool.
But you didn’t trust its maker;
you didn’t consider the one who planned it long ago.
12The LORD God of heavenly forces called on that day
for weeping and mourning, and shaven heads, and wearing of mourning clothes.
13But instead there was
fun and frivolity,
killing of cattle
and slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Eat and drink! Tomorrow we will die!”
14But the LORD of heavenly forces has revealed in my hearing:
This iniquity won’t be forgiven you until you die, says the LORD God of heavenly forces.
An administrator rebuked
15The LORD God of heavenly forces says, Go now to this official, to Shebna, who is in charge of the house, and say to him:
16What do you have here—and whom do you have here—
that you have hewed out a tomb for yourself,
you who cuts his grave on high and carves himself a home in the cliff?
17The LORD is about to hurl you down, mighty man!
He is surely going to cover you with darkness;
18he will indeed unroll your head wrapping,
rolling it like a ball into the open country.
There you will die, with your glorious chariots,
you disgrace to the house of your master!
19I will thrust you from your monument;
you will be pulled down from your platform.
20On that day, I will call my servant
Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son.
21I will give him your robe and wrap him in your sash,
and I will hand over to him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22I will place the key to David’s house on his shoulder;
what he opens no one will close,
and what he closes no one will open.
23I will fasten him securely like a tent peg,
and he will be a throne of honor for his ancestors’ house.
24All the honor of his household will hang on him, the offspring and the offshoots, every little dish, every bowl, every jar.
25On that day, says the LORD of heavenly forces, the peg that is fastened securely will give way; it will be cut down, and it will fall, and all the load hanging on it will be lost. The LORD has spoken.
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