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
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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