Esias 22

1 THE WORD OF THE VALLEY OF SION. What has happened to you, that now you are all gone up to the housetops which help you not?

The word about the valley of vision. Why have all your people gone up to the house-tops?

2 The city is filled with shouting [men]: your slain are not slain with swords, nor are your dead those who have died in battle.

You, who are full of loud voices, a town of outcries, given up to joy; your dead men have not been put to the sword, or come to their death in war.

3 All your princes have fled, and [your] captives are tightly bound, and the mighty [men] in you have fled far away.

All your rulers ... have gone in flight; all your strong ones have gone far away.

4 Therefore I said, Let me alone, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me for the breach of the daughter of my people.

For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people.

5 For [it is] a day of trouble, and of destruction, and of treading down, and [there is] perplexity [sent] from the Lord of hosts: they wander in the valley of Sion; they wander from the least to the greatest on the mountains.

For it is a day of trouble and of crushing down and of destruction from the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the valley of vision; ...

6 And the Elamites took [their] quivers, and [there were] men mounted on horses, and [there was] a gathering for battle.

And Elam was armed with arrows, and Aram came on horseback; and the breastplate of Kir was uncovered.

7 And it shall be [that] your choice valleys shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen shall block up your gates.

And your most fertile valleys were full of war-carriages, and the horsemen took up their positions in front of the town.

8 And they shall uncover the gates of Juda, and they shall look in that day on the choice houses of the city.

He took away the cover of Judah; and in that day you were looking with care at the store of arms in the house of the woods.

9 And they shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David: and they saw that they were many, and that one [had] turned the water of the old pool into the city;

And you saw all the broken places in the wall of the town of David: and you got together the waters of the lower pool.

10 and that they [had] pulled down the houses of Jerusalem, to fortify the wall of the city.

And you had the houses of Jerusalem numbered, pulling down the houses to make the wall stronger.

11 And you procured to yourselves water between the two walls within the ancient pool: but you looked not to him that made it from the beginning, and regarded not him that created it.

And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before.

12 And the Lord, the Lord of hosts, called in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and baldness, and for girding with sackcloth:

And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief:

13 but they engaged in joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing sheep, so as to eat flesh, and drink wine; saying, Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.

But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.

14 And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of hosts: for this sin shall not be forgiven you, until you die.

And the Lord of armies said to me secretly, Truly, this sin will not be taken from you till your death, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.

15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, Go into the chamber, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him, Why are you here?

The Lord, the Lord of armies, says, Go to this person in authority, this Shebna, who is over the house; who has made himself a resting-place on high, cutting out a place for himself in the rock, and say,

16 and what have you to do here, that you have here hewn yourself a sepulchre, and made yourself a sepulchre on high, and have graven for yourself a dwelling in the rock?

Who are you, and by what right have you made for yourself a resting-place here?

17 Behold now, the Lord of hosts casts forth and will utterly destroy [such] a man, and will take away your robe and your glorious crown,

See, O strong man, the Lord will send you violently away, gripping you with force,

18 and will cast you into a great and unmeasured land, and there you shall die: and he will bring your fair chariot to shame, and the house of your prince to be trodden down.

Twisting you round and round like a ball he will send you out into a wide country: there you will come to your end, and there will be the carriages of your pride, O shame of your lord's house!

19 And you shall be removed from your stewardship, and from your place.

And I will have you forced out of your place of authority, and pulled down from your position.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Chelcias:

And in that day I will send for my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah:

21 and I will put on him your robe, and I will grant him your crown with power, and I will give your stewardship into his hands: and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in Jerusalem, and to them that dwell in Juda.

And I will put your robe on him, and put your band about him, and I will give your authority into his hand: and he will be a father to the men of Jerusalem, and to the family of Judah.

22 And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him: and I will give him the key of the house of David [upon] his shoulder; and he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open.

And I will give the key of the family of David into his care; and what he keeps open will be shut by no one, and what he keeps shut no one will make open.

23 And I will make him a ruler in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne of his father's house.

And I will put him like a nail in a safe place; and he will be for a seat of glory to his father's family.

24 And every one that is glorious in the house of his father shall trust in him, from the least to the greatest; and they shall depend upon him in that day.

And all the glory of his father's family will be hanging on him, all their offspring, every small vessel, even the cups and the basins.

25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, The man that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed: for the Lord has spoken it.

In that day, says the Lord of armies, will the nail fixed in a safe place give way; and it will be cut down, and in its fall the weight hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has said it.