Isaiah 22

Trouble in Vision Valley

1This is a message about Vision Valley:[#22.1 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

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.

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.

6The people of Elam and Kir[#22.6 Regions in the Iranian highlands.]

attacked with chariots

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.

9You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool.[#22.9 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 to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.[#22.11 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.]

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.

13But instead, you celebrated[#1 Co 15.32.]

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:

Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®) © 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Published by: American Bible Society