Isaiah 22

1 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops?

A message about the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem). What's happening? Why has everyone gone up onto the rooftops?

2 Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.

There are shouts and commotion all over the city with people celebrating. Your dead weren't killed by the sword or in battle.

3 All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off.

All 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.

4 Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.

That's why I said, “Go away! Let me mourn in peace. Don't insist on comforting me as the daughter of my people is ruined.”

5 For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.

For 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.

6 And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall.

The 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.

7 And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horseman shall place themselves in the gate.

Your most productive valleys are now full of enemy chariots; and their cavalry are at your gates!

8 And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest.

Judah's defenses have been stripped away and so at that time you went looking for weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

9 And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool,

You examined the breaks in the walls of the City of David and found there were many. You had water collect in the lower pool.

10 And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify the wall.

Your reviewed the number of houses in the city and demolished some to provide stone to repair the walls.

11 And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.

You 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.

12 And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

At that time the Lord, the Lord Almighty, was calling you to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth.

13 And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.

Instead, 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!”

14 And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

The Lord Almighty has made this clear to me: “I will not forgive this sin till your dying day, says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.”

15 Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:

This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, told me to do. “Go to Shebna, the palace manager, and give him this message:

16 What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.

‘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?

17 Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment.

Watch out, you “great man”! The Lord is about to grab you and violently toss you aside.

18 He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord.

He's going to roll you up into a ball, and throw you far away into a vast country. 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.

19 And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry.

I will push you out of office, I will strip you of your position.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,

After that I will call for my servant, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.

21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.

I 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.

22 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.

I will give him the key to the house of David. What he opens, nobody can shut; what he shuts, nobody can open.

23 And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father.

I will drive him like a nail hammered securely into a wall. He will bring honor to his family.

24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music.

The 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.

25 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.

So 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.