Yesaya 22:1

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

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?

Yesaya 22:5

22:5 For the sovereign master, ³  the Lord who commands armies,

has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. ⁴ 

In the Valley of Vision ⁵  people shout ⁶ 

and cry out to the hill. ⁷ 

[22:1]  ¹ sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “What to you, then?”

[22:5]  ³ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[22:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[22:5]  ⁵ tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.

[22:5]  ⁶ tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.

[22:5]  ⁷ sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.