22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: 1
What is the reason 2
that all of you go up to the rooftops?
22:2 The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;
the town is filled with revelry. 3
Your slain were not cut down by the sword;
they did not die in battle. 4
22:3 5 All your leaders ran away together –
they fled to a distant place;
all your refugees 6 were captured together –
they were captured without a single arrow being shot. 7
22:4 So I say:
“Don’t look at me! 8
I am weeping bitterly.
Don’t try 9 to console me
concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” 10
22:5 For the sovereign master, 11 the Lord who commands armies,
has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. 12
In the Valley of Vision 13 people shout 14
and cry out to the hill. 15
22:6 The Elamites picked up the quiver,
and came with chariots and horsemen; 16
the men of Kir 17 prepared 18 the shield. 19
22:7 Your very best valleys were full of chariots; 20
horsemen confidently took their positions 21 at the gate.
22:8 They 22 removed the defenses 23 of Judah.
At that time 24 you looked
for the weapons in the House of the Forest. 25
22:9 You saw the many breaks
in the walls of the city of David; 26
you stored up water in the lower pool.
22:10 You counted the houses in Jerusalem, 27
and demolished houses so you could have material to reinforce the wall. 28
22:11 You made a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the old pool –
but you did not trust in 29 the one who made it; 30
you did not depend on 31 the one who formed it long ago!
22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,
for shaved heads and sackcloth. 32
22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! 33
You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,
eat meat and drink wine.
Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 34
22:14 The Lord who commands armies told me this: 35 “Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live,” 36 says the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies.
22:15 This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says:
“Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, 37 and tell him: 38
22:16 ‘What right do you have to be here? What relatives do you have buried here? 39
Why 40 do you chisel out a tomb for yourself here?
He chisels out his burial site in an elevated place,
he carves out his tomb on a cliff.
22:17 Look, the Lord will throw you far away, 41 you mere man! 42
He will wrap you up tightly. 43
22:18 He will wind you up tightly into a ball
and throw you into a wide, open land. 44
There you will die,
and there with you will be your impressive chariots, 45
which bring disgrace to the house of your master. 46
22:19 I will remove you from 47 your office;
you will be thrown down 48 from your position.
22:20 “At that time 49 I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 22:21 I will put your robe on him, tie your belt around him, and transfer your authority to him. 50 He will become a protector of 51 the residents of Jerusalem and of the people 52 of Judah. 22:22 I will place the key 53 to the house of David on his shoulder. When he opens the door, no one can close it; when he closes the door, no one can open it. 22:23 I will fasten him like a peg into a solid place; 54 he will bring honor and respect to his father’s family. 55 22:24 His father’s family will gain increasing prominence because of him, 56 including the offspring and the offshoots. 57 All the small containers, including the bowls and all the jars will hang from this peg.’ 58
22:25 “At that time,” 59 says the Lord who commands armies, “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” 60 Indeed, 61 the Lord has spoken.
23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:
Wail, you large ships, 62
for the port is too devastated to enter! 63
From the land of Cyprus 64 this news is announced to them.
23:2 Lament, 65 you residents of the coast,
you merchants of Sidon 66 who travel over the sea,
whose agents sail over 23:3 the deep waters! 67
Grain from the Shihor region, 68
crops grown near the Nile 69 she receives; 70
she is the trade center 71 of the nations.
23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea 72 says this, O fortress of the sea:
“I have not gone into labor
or given birth;
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.” 73
23:5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre. 74
23:6 Travel to Tarshish!
Wail, you residents of the coast!
23:7 Is this really your boisterous city 75
whose origins are in the distant past, 76
and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?
23:8 Who planned this for royal Tyre, 77
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the dignitaries 78 of the earth?
23:9 The Lord who commands armies planned it –
to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, 79
to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.
23:10 Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;
there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre. 80
23:11 The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea, 81
he shook kingdoms;
he 82 gave the order
to destroy Canaan’s fortresses. 83
23:12 He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed 84 virgin daughter Sidon!
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.” 85
23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
these people who have lost their identity! 86
The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.
They erected their siege towers, 87
demolished 88 its fortresses,
and turned it into a heap of ruins. 89
23:14 Wail, you large ships, 90
for your fortress is destroyed!
23:15 At that time 91 Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, 92 the typical life span of a king. 93 At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song: 94
23:16 “Take the harp,
go through the city,
forgotten prostitute!
Play it well,
play lots of songs,
so you’ll be noticed!” 95
23:17 At the end of seventy years 96 the Lord will revive 97 Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms. 98 23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. 99
24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth
and leave it in ruins;
he will mar its surface
and scatter its inhabitants.
24:2 Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, 100
the master as well as the servant, 101
the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, 102
the seller as well as the buyer, 103
the borrower as well as the lender, 104
the creditor as well as the debtor. 105
24:3 The earth will be completely devastated
and thoroughly ransacked.
For the Lord has decreed this judgment. 106
24:4 The earth 107 dries up 108 and withers,
the world shrivels up and withers;
the prominent people of the earth 109 fade away.
24:5 The earth is defiled by 110 its inhabitants, 111
for they have violated laws,
disregarded the regulation, 112
and broken the permanent treaty. 113
24:6 So a treaty curse 114 devours the earth;
its inhabitants pay for their guilt. 115
This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, 116
and are reduced to just a handful of people. 117
24:7 The new wine dries up,
the vines shrivel up,
all those who like to celebrate 118 groan.
24:8 The happy sound 119 of the tambourines stops,
the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,
the happy sound of the harp ceases.
24:9 They no longer sing and drink wine; 120
the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.
24:10 The ruined town 121 is shattered;
all of the houses are shut up tight. 122
24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; 123
all joy turns to sorrow; 124
celebrations disappear from the earth. 125
24:12 The city is left in ruins; 126
the gate is reduced to rubble. 127
24:13 This is what will happen throughout 128 the earth,
among the nations.
It will be like when they beat an olive tree,
and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest. 129
24:14 They 130 lift their voices and shout joyfully;
they praise 131 the majesty of the Lord in the west.
24:15 So in the east 132 extol the Lord,
along the seacoasts extol 133 the fame 134 of the Lord God of Israel.
24:16 From the ends of the earth we 135 hear songs –
the Just One is majestic. 136
But I 137 say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!
Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” 138
24:17 Terror, pit, and snare
are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth! 139
24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror
will fall into the pit; 140
the one who climbs out of the pit,
will be trapped by the snare.
For the floodgates of the heavens 141 are opened up 142
and the foundations of the earth shake.
24:19 The earth is broken in pieces,
the earth is ripped to shreds,
the earth shakes violently. 143
24:20 The earth will stagger around 144 like a drunk;
it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. 145
Its sin will weigh it down,
and it will fall and never get up again.
24:21 At that time 146 the Lord will punish 147
the heavenly forces in the heavens 148
and the earthly kings on the earth.
24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, 149
locked up in a prison,
and after staying there for a long time, 150 they will be punished. 151
24:23 The full moon will be covered up, 152
the bright sun 153 will be darkened; 154
for the Lord who commands armies will rule 155
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem 156
in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor. 157
25:1 O Lord, you are my God! 158
I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. 159
For you have done extraordinary things,
and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. 160
25:2 Indeed, 161 you have made the city 162 into a heap of rubble,
the fortified town into a heap of ruins;
the fortress of foreigners 163 is no longer a city,
it will never be rebuilt.
25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;
the towns of 164 powerful nations will fear you.
25:4 For you are a protector for the poor,
a protector for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm,
a shade from the heat.
Though the breath of tyrants 165 is like a winter rainstorm, 166
25:5 like heat 167 in a dry land,
you humble the boasting foreigners. 168
Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, 169
so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. 170
25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. 171
At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –
tender meat and choicest wine. 172
25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up
the shroud that is over all the peoples, 173
the woven covering that is over all the nations; 174
25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. 175
The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,
and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
Indeed, the Lord has announced it! 176
25:9 At that time they will say, 177
“Look, here 178 is our God!
We waited for him and he delivered us.
Here 179 is the Lord! We waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”
25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. 180
Moab will be trampled down where it stands, 181
as a heap of straw is trampled down in 182 a manure pile.
25:11 Moab 183 will spread out its hands in the middle of it, 184
just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim;
the Lord 185 will bring down Moab’s 186 pride as it spreads its hands. 187
25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your 188 walls) 189 he will knock down,
he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground. 190
26:1 At that time 191 this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city!
The Lord’s 192 deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. 193
26:2 Open the gates so a righteous nation can enter –
one that remains trustworthy.
26:3 You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith,
for they trust in you. 194
26:4 Trust in the Lord from this time forward, 195
even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector! 196
26:5 Indeed, 197 the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place,
he brings down an elevated town;
he brings it down to the ground, 198
he throws it down to the dust.
26:6 It is trampled underfoot
by the feet of the oppressed,
by the soles of the poor.”
26:7 199 The way of the righteous is level,
the path of the righteous that you make is straight. 200
26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold, 201
O Lord, we wait for you.
We desire your fame and reputation to grow. 202
26:9 I 203 look for 204 you during the night,
my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,
for when your judgments come upon the earth,
those who live in the world learn about justice. 205
26:10 If the wicked are shown mercy,
they do not learn about justice. 206
Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; 207
they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.
26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, 208
but they don’t even notice.
They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, 209
yes, fire will consume your enemies. 210
26:12 O Lord, you make us secure, 211
for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. 212
26:13 O Lord, our God,
masters other than you have ruled us,
but we praise your name alone.
26:14 The dead do not come back to life,
the spirits of the dead do not rise. 213
That is because 214 you came in judgment 215 and destroyed them,
you wiped out all memory of them.
26:15 You have made the nation larger, 216 O Lord,
you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, 217
you have extended all the borders of the land.
26:16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;
they uttered incantations because of your discipline. 218
26:17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver
and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,
so were we because of you, O Lord.
26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,
we gave birth, as it were, to wind. 219
We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;
people to populate the world are not born. 220
26:19 221 Your dead will come back to life;
your corpses will rise up.
Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! 222
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, 223
and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. 224
26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!
Close your doors behind you!
Hide for a little while,
until his angry judgment is over! 225
26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, 226
to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.
The earth will display the blood shed on it;
it will no longer cover up its slain. 227