A Warning of the Destruction of Jerusalem

1The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,

all of you, to the housetops,

2you that are full of shoutings,

tumultuous city, exultant town?

Your slain are not slain by the sword,

nor are they dead in battle.

3Your rulers have all fled together;

they were captured without the use of a bow.22.3 Or without their bows

All of you who were found were captured,

though they had fled far away.22.3 Gk Syr Vg: Heb fled from far away

4Therefore I said:

Look away from me,

let me weep bitter tears;

do not try to comfort me

for the destruction of my beloved people.

5For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day

of tumult and trampling and confusion

in the valley of vision,

a battering down of walls

and a cry for help to the mountains.

6Elam bore the quiver

with chariots and cavalry,22.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain

and Kir uncovered the shield.

7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

and the cavalry took their stand at the gates.

8He has taken away the covering of Judah.

On that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9and you saw that there were many breaches in the city of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.

12On that day the Lord GOD of hosts

called to weeping and mourning,

to baldness and putting on sackcloth;

13but instead there was joy and festivity,

killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,

eating meat and drinking wine.

‘Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.’

14The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:

Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,

says the Lord GOD of hosts.

Denunciation of Self-Seeking Officials

15Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him: 16What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here, that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb on the height, and carving a habitation for yourself in the rock? 17The LORD is about to hurl you away violently, my man. He will seize firm hold of you, 18whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there your splendid chariots shall lie, O you disgrace to your master's house! 19I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.

20On that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah, 21and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honour to his ancestral house. 24And they will hang on him the whole weight of his ancestral house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25On that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way; it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will perish, for the LORD has spoken.