Isaiah 22

Jerusalem under attack

Invaders at the gates

1A message about Jerusalem, the valley of vision. [1]

What’s going on?
Why is everyone up on their rooftops?
2Why is everyone screaming?
What’s the panic?
I see bodies, but no sword wounds.
These people didn’t die in battle. [2]
3The leaders tried to run away.
But they got caught and gave up without a fight.
None of your people escaped.
Everyone got caught,
Even those who made it a long way off.
4So, I said, “Don’t look at me now.
Leave me alone. Let me cry.
Don’t try to comfort me.
These are my people dying.”

Attacked

What a day in vision valley!
A day of panic and confusion
Brought here by the God of everyone.
City walls are collapsing under the attack.
People cry to distant hills for help.
6Elam [3] attacks with archers,
Chariots, and cavalry.
Warriors of Kir [4] protect them
Behind a wall of shields.
7Your beautiful valleys are traffic jams,
Chariots and calvary
Stacked up to the city gates.
8Judah’s defenses are failing.

Your brains were working. That’s obvious because you thought about your stash of weapons in the Forest House Armory. 9You counted the number of breaches in the walls. You thought to collect water for the coming siege. You pulled it from the lower pools. 10You thought to repair the broken parts of the city walls by using material from nearby houses. 11You thought ahead and built a reservoir to hold water from the other pool. You thought about this stuff. But you didn’t bother to think about God, who caused all of this to happen to you. 12

The Lord, God of all,
Ordered you to weep and mourn,
To show your regrets by shaving your heads
And wearing scratchy mourning clothes.
13But what did you do?
You threw a party.
You laughed and had fun.
You slaughtered oxen and sheep
For a barbecue with wine.
You said,
“Let’s and eat and drink
‘cause tomorrow we die.”
14The LORD of all spoke to me:
“You’re not going to live long enough to see me forgive these people.”

Message for a palace official

15The Lord, God of everyone, told me, “Go and talk to Shebna, the official who runs the palace. 16Deliver this message to him:

‘What are you doing?
Who said you could chisel this cliff into a tomb
Here on this very hill?
17Look, Mr. Man in Charge,
The LORD is about to demote you.
He has got you where he wants you.
18In the palm of his hand.
He’s going to throw you like a ball
Into someone’s left field in a different ballgame.
You’ll die in another land.
Chariots will dispose of your body,
To your master’s disgrace.
19I’m gonna get you fired.
You won’t work here anymore.’”

A new prime minister

20I’m giving your job to Elikim, who is Hilkiah’s son. 21He gets your uniform, with the robe and belt. I’m taking away your authority and giving it all to him, as well. He will lead the people of Jerusalem, in the tribe of Judah. 22I’m putting him in charge of everything related to running the nation. If he says yes, it’s yes. If he says no, that’s not maybe. If he says, “Open,” you say, “How wide?” 23I’m going to anchor him into this position like a tent peg hammered in the ground. He’s going to bring honor to his family. 24His family will depend on him like dishes need a cupboard. He’ll protect the big jugs, little bowls, and all the dishes in the set. 25But one day the LORD of everyone will pull the plug. The tent peg is coming out. And everything it supports will collapse. It’s all coming down into a pile of ruins. The LORD says it will happen.

Footnotes

Intro Notes for Isaiah

122:1

It’s unknown what “valley of vision” means. Jerusalem sits on a ridgetop, above several valleys below, including the Kidron Valley, between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives ridge.

222:2

There’s no indication of how they died. Possibly of starvation or disease from a prolonged siege.

322:6

Elam was a son of Shem and grandson of Noah. Elam’s descendants became known as Elamites. They lived north of the Persian Gulf, in what is now part of Iran. They allied with Babylonian king Merodach-Baladin II in an unsuccessful revolt against the Assyrian Empire. These rebels tried to pressure Judah into joining the revolt.

422:6

Location of Kir is uncertain. Isaiah 22:6 mentions it, too. He links it with Moab—and perhaps as a city inside Moab, one of Israel’s neighbors to the east. Some scholars say the original writer meant to say “city,” referring to Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire. In Hebrew, “city” ir looks like this: עִיר. And the word translated as “Kir” qîr looks very similar: קִיר. Today, the ruins of Nineveh lie in northern Iraq, at Mosul.