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
1A message about the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem). What's happening? Why has everyone gone up onto the rooftops? 2There are shouts and commotion all over the city with people celebrating.
Your dead weren't killed by the sword or in battle.#22:2. A criticism of the people of Jerusalem who were not fighting the invaders. 3All your leaders ran away together; they were captured without resistance. All your people trying to escape were captured together, even though they had run a long way away.
4That's why I said, “Go away! Let me mourn in peace. Don't insist on comforting me as the daughter of my people#22:4. “Daughter of my people”: probably a reference to Jerusalem. The “ruining” was not the destruction of Jerusalem at the time of Sennacherib's attack, but the huge amount of money and other valuable gifts Hezekiah gave him to “buy him off.” See 2 Kings 18:15-16. is ruined.”
5For the Lord has a day of defeat, of panic and confusion in the Valley of Vision, a day of tearing down walls and crying for help to the mountains.
6The Elamites pick up their quivers full of arrows, and prepare their chariots and horsemen, while the people of Kir uncover their shields ready for battle.#22:6. “Ready for battle”: supplied for clarity. 7Your most productive valleys are now full of enemy chariots; and their cavalry are at your gates! 8Judah's defenses have been stripped away and so at that time you went looking for weapons in the Palace of the Forest.#22:8. “The Palace of the Forest”: “The Palace of the Forest of Lebanon” made by Solomon. See 1 Kings 10:17, 1 Kings 10:21; 14:27-28.
9You examined the breaks in the walls of the City of David and found there were many. You had water collect in the lower pool. 10Your reviewed the number of houses in the city and demolished some to provide stone#22:10. “To provide stone”: supplied for clarity. to repair the walls. 11You built a reservoir inside the walls for the waters from the old pool, but you did not respect its Maker or think about the One who planned it long ago.
12At that time the Lord, the Lord Almighty, was calling you to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth. 13Instead, you go on happily partying! You slaughter cattle and sheep so you can have your feasts, eating meat and drinking wine, saying, “Let's eat and drink, because we're going to die tomorrow!”
14The Lord Almighty has made this clear to me: “I will not forgive this sin till your dying day, says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.”
15This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, told me to do. “Go to Shebna, the palace manager, and give him this message: 16‘What are you doing here? Who do you think you are, cutting out a tomb for yourself high up on a hill, carving out for yourself a place to rest? 17Watch out, you great man! The Lord is about to grab you and violently toss you aside. 18He's going to roll you up into a ball, and throw you far away into a vast country.#22:18. “Vast country”: literally, “a broad-handed land.” You will die there, and that's where the chariots you were so proud of will remain. You're a disgrace to your lord's royal family. 19I#22:19. Referring to the Lord. will push you out of office, I will strip you of your position.
20After that I will call for my servant, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 21I will put your robe and place your sash around him, and I will give your authority to him. He will be a father to the people living in Jerusalem and Judah. 22I will give him the key to the house of David.#22:22. “House of David” this could refer both the palace and to David's descendants. What he opens, nobody can shut; what he shuts, nobody can open. 23I will drive him like a nail hammered securely into a wall. He will bring honor to his family.
24The heavy burden of his father's family will hang on him—all the descendants and the inlaws—all the little containers, bowls and all kinds of jars. 25So the time will come, declares the Lord Almighty, when the nail will come out of the wall, even though it was hammered in securely. It will break off and fall down, and everything hanging on it will fall down too. The Lord has spoken.’”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com