Isaiah 22

This is the message of judgment about the Valley of Vision. What is wrong with you now, that all of you have gone up on the rooftops?

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

Note"Burden" translates a Hebrew word (massa) used for a formal prophetic pronouncement, usually a threatening one; the same word also means a load that is carried, and the chapter plays on that double sense at its close (verse 25). "Valley of Vision" is not a known place name; from what follows it stands for Jerusalem, a city set among hills and ravines and the place where prophets received visions. Houses had flat roofs used as extra living space, so a whole population going up on the rooftops means everyone climbing up to look out, at an approaching army, or to celebrate.

2You city full of noise, you town of uproar and partying: your people who died were not killed by the sword, and they did not die in battle.

2Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

NoteThat the dead were not killed by the sword or in battle points to death from starvation and disease during a siege, or to men cut down while fleeing rather than while fighting.

3All your rulers ran away together; they were captured without a bow being drawn. Everyone who was found in you was captured together, even though they had run far away.

3All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase is compressed and can be taken two ways: that the rulers were captured by archers, or that they were captured without a bow being drawn, that is, without any fight at all. Ancient texts and translations divide on it.

4So I said, "Turn away from me and let me weep bitterly. Do not work at comforting me about the ruin of my people, my own dear people."

4Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

Note"The daughter of my people" is a standard Hebrew way of speaking of a nation or a city as a single woman, an affectionate and grieving form of address rather than a reference to any individual.

5For the Lord GOD of Armies has set a day of trouble, of trampling, and of confusion in the Valley of Vision, a day of walls broken down and of cries for help going up to the mountains.

5For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

Note"LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which Hebrew writes with four consonants and which readers traditionally replaced when reading aloud with the word for "Lord." "Of Armies" (older translations: "of hosts") describes him as commander of massed forces, armies, or the heavenly bodies and powers.

6Elam picked up the quiver of arrows and came with chariots of men and with horsemen, and Kir took the covers off the shields.

6And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

NoteElam was a kingdom east of Babylonia, in what is now western Iran; Kir was a region whose location is no longer certain. Both supplied troops to the great Mesopotamian empires, so they appear here as contingents in the invading army. Shields were carried in leather covers on the march and uncovered for battle, so "took the covers off" means the attack was about to begin.

7Your best valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are lined up in battle order at the city gate.

7And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

8He stripped away the defenses that covered Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons stored in the House of the Forest.

8And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

NoteThe "House of the Forest" was a large hall in the palace complex in Jerusalem, named for its rows of cedar pillars that looked like a forest; it was used, among other things, to store weapons and ceremonial shields.

9You also saw that the walls of the City of David had many gaps in them, and you collected the water of the lower pool.

9Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

NoteThe "City of David" was the oldest fortified core of Jerusalem, the ridge captured and settled by David, south of the temple area. Collecting water from the lower pool was siege preparation: securing the water supply inside the walls and denying it to an attacker.

10You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you tore houses down to make the wall stronger.

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

11You also built a holding pool between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to the One who made it, and you paid no attention to the One who planned it long ago.

11Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

NoteThe "two walls" and the old pool refer to Jerusalem's water works at the southern end of the city. Because springs lay outside the walls, kings cut channels and reservoirs to bring water inside before a siege. The point of the verse is the contrast between the engineering and the one who is credited with making the water source in the first place.

12On that day the Lord GOD of Armies called you to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and to put on sackcloth, the rough cloth people wore to show grief.

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

NoteShaving the head bald and wearing sackcloth were public, visible mourning rites, done at funerals and at national disasters; the call is for the city to hold what amounts to a state mourning.

13But look: there was joy and celebration, killing cattle and butchering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink," you said, "for tomorrow we die!"

13And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

NoteSlaughtering cattle and sheep means holding feasts, since meat was eaten mainly on festive occasions. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" was a proverbial saying of people who have given up on the future; it is quoted again in the New Testament.

14The LORD of Armies made this known in my hearing: "This sin of yours will not be wiped away until the day you die," says the Lord GOD of Armies.

14And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Note"Wiped away" translates the vocabulary of atonement, the removal or covering over of guilt, normally accomplished through sacrifice. To say the sin will not be wiped away until they die is to say that no ritual remedy will be available for it.

15This is what the Lord GOD of Armies says: Go to Shebna, the official who is in charge of the palace, and say to him,

15Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,

NoteShebna's title, literally "the one over the house," was the highest office under the king: royal steward, in charge of the palace and effectively the head of the government. The Hebrew term rendered "treasurer" in older translations refers to a chief administrator.

16What are you doing here, and who gave you the right to be here, that you have cut out a grave for yourself here? You are cutting your tomb high up and carving out a resting place for yourself in the rock.

16What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

NoteTombs for the wealthy were chambers chiselled out of solid rock, often high on a hillside, and were extremely expensive; they were normally family tombs on family land. The double question "what are you doing here, and who is here belonging to you" suggests Shebna has no ancestral claim to the ground: he may be an outsider, and is building himself a monument above his station. A tomb cut high in the rock face outside Jerusalem carries an inscription naming a royal steward, and some scholars have connected it with this man.

17Look, mighty man, the LORD is about to hurl you away with a mighty throw, and he will take firm hold of you.

17Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

NoteThe Hebrew here is difficult and can be read either as an ironic form of address to Shebna, "O mighty man," or as describing the force of the throw. Translations divide on it. What follows keeps the image of a man bundled up and flung a long distance.

18He will wind you up and toss you like a ball into a wide, open land. There you will die, and there your fine chariots will stay, a disgrace to your master's house.

18He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.

NoteThe "wide, open land" means exile in a distant country, the broad plains of Mesopotamia, from which he will not return. His chariots were a display of rank, so their ending up abandoned abroad shames the king he served.

19I will drive you out of your office, and you will be pulled down from your position.

19And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

20On that day I will call for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

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

21I will dress him in your robe and tie your sash around him, and I will hand your authority over into his hand. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

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

NoteThe robe and the sash were the insignia of the office, not just clothing; dressing a man in them was the act that installed him. "A father to" the people is standard ancient language for a protective official or patron, not a family relationship.

22I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. What he opens, no one will shut; and what he shuts, no one will open.

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

NoteAncient door keys were large wooden or metal bars, big enough to be carried over the shoulder on a strap. The key of the royal house stands for control of access to the king and to the palace stores, the steward's defining power.

23I will drive him in like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a seat of honor for his father's family.

23And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.

NoteThe image is not a small nail but a stout peg driven into a wall or into the ground, of the kind used to hold up a tent or to hang heavy household goods on.

24They will hang on him all the weight of his father's family: the children and the descendants, and every small container, from the bowls to all the large jars.

24And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

NoteContinuing the peg image: everything the family owns is hung on him. "Children and descendants" and the range of vessels from small bowls to big storage jars stand for the whole extended household, of every rank, depending on his position for their living.

25On that day, says the LORD of Armies, the peg that was driven into the firm place will give way. It will be broken off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down, for the LORD has spoken it.

25In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

NoteThe load finally pulls the peg out of the wall. The word for "load" here is the same word translated "burden" in verse 1, closing the chapter on the term it opened with.