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Isaiah 22-24
Contemporary English Version
Isaiah 22-24
Contemporary English Version
Trouble in Vision Valley
22 This is a message about Vision Valley:[a]
Why are you celebrating
on the flat roofs[b]
of your houses?
2 Your city is filled
with noisy shouts.
Those who lie drunk
in your streets
were not killed in battle.
3 Your leaders ran away,
but they were captured
without a fight.
No matter how far they ran,
they were found and caught.[c]
4 Then I said, “Leave me alone!
Let me cry bitter tears.
My people have been destroyed,
so don't try to comfort me.”
5 The Lord All-Powerful
had chosen a time
for noisy shouts and confusion
to fill Vision Valley,
and for everyone to beg
the mountains for help.[d]
6 The people of Elam and Kir[e]
attacked with chariots[f]
and carried shields.
7 Your most beautiful valleys
were covered with chariots;
your cities were surrounded
by cavalry troops.
8 Judah was left defenseless.
At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace.[g] 9 You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool.[h] 10 You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall. 11 Then you built a large tank between the walls[i] to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.
A Time To Weep
12 When all of this happened,
the Lord All-Powerful told you
to weep and mourn,
to shave your heads,
and wear sackcloth.
13 (A) But instead, you celebrated
by feasting on beef and lamb
and by drinking wine,
because you said,
“Let's eat and drink today!
Tomorrow we may die.”
14 The Lord All-Powerful
has spoken to me
this solemn promise:
“I won't forgive them for this,
not as long as they live.”
Selfish Officials Are Doomed
15 The Lord All-Powerful is sending me with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:
16 Shebna, what gives you the right to have a tomb carved out of rock in this burial place of royalty? None of your relatives are buried here. 17 You may be powerful, but the Lord is about to snatch you up and throw you away. 18 He will roll you into a ball and throw you into a wide open country, where you will die and your chariots will be destroyed. You're a disgrace to those you serve.
19 The Lord is going to take away your job! 20-21 He will give your official robes and your authority to his servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the royal family of Judah. 22 (B) The Lord will put him in charge of the key that belongs to King David's family. No one will be able to unlock what he locks, and no one will be able to lock what he unlocks. 23 The Lord will make him as firm in his position as a tent peg hammered in the ground, and Eliakim will bring honor to his family.
24 His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall. 25 That peg is fastened firmly now, but someday it will be shaken loose and fall down. Then everything that was hanging on it will be destroyed. This is what the Lord All-Powerful has promised.
The City of Tyre Will Be Punished
23 (C) This is a message from distant islands about the city of Tyre:[j]
Cry, you seagoing ships![k]
Tyre and its houses
lie in ruins.[l]
2 Mourn in silence,
you shop owners of Sidon,[m]
you people on the coast.
Your sailors crossed oceans,
making your city rich.
3 Your merchants sailed the seas,
making you wealthy by trading
with nation after nation.
They brought back grain
that grew along the Nile.[n]
4 Sidon, you are a mighty fortress
built along the sea.
But you will be disgraced
like a married woman
who never had children.[o]
5 When Egypt hears about Tyre,
it will tremble.
6 All of you along the coast
had better cry and sail
far across the ocean.[p]
7 Can this be the happy city
that has stood for centuries?
Its people have spread
to distant lands;
8 its merchants were kings
honored all over the world.
Who planned to destroy Tyre?
9 The Lord All-Powerful planned it
to bring shame and disgrace
to those who are honored
by everyone on earth.
10 People of Tyre,[q]
your harbor is destroyed!
You will have to become farmers
just like the Egyptians.[r]
Tyre Will Be Forgotten
11 The Lord's hand has reached
across the sea,
upsetting the nations.
He has given a command
to destroy fortresses
in the land of Canaan.
12 The Lord has said
to the people of Sidon,
“Your celebrating is over—
you are crushed.
Even if you escape to Cyprus,
you won't find peace.”
13 Look what the Assyrians have done to Babylonia! They have attacked, destroying every palace in the land. Now wild animals live among the ruins.[s] 14 Not a fortress will be left standing, so tell all the seagoing ships[t] to mourn.
15 The city of Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, which is the lifetime of a king. Then Tyre will be like that evil woman in the song:
16 You're gone and forgotten,
you evil woman!
So strut through the town,
singing and playing
your favorite tune
to be remembered again.
17 At the end of those 70 years, the Lord will let Tyre get back into business. The city will be like a woman who sells her body to everyone of every nation on earth, 18 but none of what is earned will be kept in the city. That money will belong to the Lord, and it will be used to buy more than enough food and good clothes for those who worship the Lord.
The Earth Will Be Punished
24 The Lord is going to twist the earth out of shape and turn it into a desert. Everyone will be scattered, 2 including ordinary people and priests, slaves and slave owners, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, the rich and the poor. 3 The earth will be stripped bare and left that way. This is what the Lord has promised.
4 The earth wilts away;
its mighty leaders melt
to nothing.[u]
5 The earth is polluted
because its people
disobeyed the laws of God,
breaking their agreement
that was to last forever.
6 The earth is under a curse;
its people are dying out
because of their sins.
7 Grapevines have dried up:
wine is almost gone—
mournful sounds are heard
instead of joyful shouts.
8 No one plays tambourines
or stringed instruments;
all noisy celebrating
has come to an end.
9 They no longer sing
as they drink their wine,
and it tastes sour.
10 Towns are crushed and in chaos;
houses are locked tight.
11 Happy times have disappeared
from the earth,
and people shout in the streets,
“We're out of wine!”
12 Cities are destroyed;
their gates are torn down.
13 Nations will be stripped bare,
like olive trees or vineyards
after the harvest season.
Praise the God of Justice
14 People in the west shout;
they joyfully praise
the majesty of the Lord.
15 And so, everyone in the east
and those on the islands
should praise the Lord,
the God of Israel.
16 From all over the world
songs of praise are heard
for the God of justice.[v]
But I feel awful,
terribly miserable.
Can anyone be trusted?
So many are treacherous!
There's No Escape
17 Terror, traps, and pits
are waiting for everyone.
18 If you are terrified and run,
you will fall into a pit;
if you crawl out of the pit,
you will get caught in a trap.
The sky has split apart
like a window thrown open.
The foundations of the earth
have been shaken;
19 the earth is shattered,
ripped to pieces.
20 It staggers and shakes
like a drunkard
or a hut in a windstorm.
It is burdened down with sin;
the earth will fall,
never again to get up.
21 On that day the Lord
will punish the powers
in the heavens[w]
and the kings of the earth.
22 He will put them in a pit
and keep them prisoner.
Then later on,
he will punish them.
23 Both the moon and sun will
be embarrassed and ashamed.
The Lord All-Powerful will rule
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
where he will show its rulers
his wonderful glory.
Footnotes
- 22.1 Vision Valley: The exact location is not known. In Hebrew the name sounds something like “Hinnom Valley,” where the people of Jerusalem sometimes offered human sacrifices to the gods of Canaan.
- 22.1 flat roofs: In Palestine the houses usually had a flat roof. Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was made of beams and boards covered with packed earth.
- 22.3 No matter … caught: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 22.5 and for … help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 22.6 Elam and Kir: Regions in the Iranian highlands.
- 22.6 chariots: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 22.8 Forest Palace: Built by Solomon (1 Kings 7.2) and used as a place for storing weapons.
- 22.9 the lower pool: Mentioned only here; probably in the southern part of the Central Valley (Tyropoean Valley) of Jerusalem.
- 22.11 between the walls: Some cities had two walls with a space between them. If the enemy broke through the outer wall, the city was still protected by the inner wall. The houses that were torn down to repair the outer wall were probably squatters' huts that had been built between the two walls.
- 23.1 Tyre: A fortress city built on an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of what is now Lebanon.
- 23.1 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
- 23.1 Tyre … ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 23.2 Sidon: A coastal city just north of Tyre.
- 23.3 along the Nile: The Hebrew text has “grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile,” but Shihor is probably a name for a region near the lower part of the Nile.
- 23.4 children: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 23.6 far across the ocean: The Hebrew text has “to Tarshish,” probably meaning a long distance.
- 23.10 People of Tyre: The Hebrew text has “the people of Tarshish,” which stands for the colonies of Tyre.
- 23.10 Egyptians: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
- 23.13 ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
- 23.14 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
- 24.4 its … to nothing: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 24.16 God of justice: Or “people who do right.”
- 24.21 the powers in the heavens: In ancient times the stars were thought of as powerful spiritual beings, and sometimes they stood for pagan gods.
Isaiah 22-24
New International Version
Isaiah 22-24
New International Version
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
22 A prophecy(A) against the Valley(B) of Vision:(C)
What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up on the roofs,(D)
2 you town so full of commotion,
you city of tumult(E) and revelry?(F)
Your slain(G) were not killed by the sword,(H)
nor did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled(I) together;
they have been captured(J) without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far away.
4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
let me weep(K) bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of my people.”(L)
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day(M)
of tumult and trampling(N) and terror(O)
in the Valley of Vision,(P)
a day of battering down walls(Q)
and of crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam(R) takes up the quiver,(S)
with her charioteers and horses;
Kir(T) uncovers the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys(U) are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the city gates.(V)
8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
and you looked in that day(W)
to the weapons(X) in the Palace of the Forest.(Y)
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
were broken through(Z) in many places;
you stored up water
in the Lower Pool.(AA)
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
and tore down houses(AB) to strengthen the wall.(AC)
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls(AD)
for the water of the Old Pool,(AE)
but you did not look to the One who made it,
or have regard(AF) for the One who planned(AG) it long ago.
12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
called you on that day(AH)
to weep(AI) and to wail,
to tear out your hair(AJ) and put on sackcloth.(AK)
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,(AL)
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!(AM)
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”(AN)
14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:(AO) “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned(AP) for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
“Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna(AQ) the palace(AR) administrator:(AS)
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission
to cut out a grave(AT) for yourself(AU) here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
17 “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
and hurl(AV) you away, you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball
and throw(AW) you into a large country.
There you will die
and there the chariots(AX) you were so proud of
will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19 I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted(AY) from your position.(AZ)
20 “In that day(BA) I will summon my servant,(BB) Eliakim(BC) son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash(BD) around him and hand your authority(BE) over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder(BF) the key(BG) to the house of David;(BH) what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.(BI) 23 I will drive him like a peg(BJ) into a firm place;(BK) he will become a seat[a] of honor(BL) for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,(BM)” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg(BN) driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.(BO)
A Prophecy Against Tyre
23 A prophecy against Tyre:(BP)
Wail,(BQ) you ships(BR) of Tarshish!(BS)
For Tyre is destroyed(BT)
and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus
word has come to them.
2 Be silent,(BU) you people of the island
and you merchants(BV) of Sidon,(BW)
whom the seafarers have enriched.
3 On the great waters
came the grain of the Shihor;(BX)
the harvest of the Nile[b](BY) was the revenue of Tyre,(BZ)
and she became the marketplace of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon,(CA) and you fortress of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;(CB)
I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”
5 When word comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish(CC) at the report from Tyre.(CD)
6 Cross over to Tarshish;(CE)
wail, you people of the island.
7 Is this your city of revelry,(CF)
the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
to settle in far-off lands?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants(CG) are princes,
whose traders(CH) are renowned in the earth?
9 The Lord Almighty planned(CI) it,
to bring down(CJ) her pride in all her splendor
and to humble(CK) all who are renowned(CL) on the earth.
10 Till[c] your land as they do along the Nile,
Daughter Tarshish,
for you no longer have a harbor.
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand(CM) over the sea
and made its kingdoms tremble.(CN)
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia
that her fortresses be destroyed.(CO)
12 He said, “No more of your reveling,(CP)
Virgin Daughter(CQ) Sidon, now crushed!
“Up, cross over to Cyprus;(CR)
even there you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Babylonians,[d](CS)
this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians(CT) have made it
a place for desert creatures;(CU)
they raised up their siege towers,(CV)
they stripped its fortresses bare
and turned it into a ruin.(CW)
15 At that time Tyre(DA) will be forgotten for seventy years,(DB) the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take up a harp, walk through the city,
you forgotten prostitute;(DC)
play the harp well, sing many a song,
so that you will be remembered.”
17 At the end of seventy years,(DD) the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution(DE) and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.(DF) 18 Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord;(DG) they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord,(DH) for abundant food and fine clothes.(DI)
The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth
24 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth(DJ)
and devastate(DK) it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter(DL) its inhabitants—
2 it will be the same
for priest as for people,(DM)
for the master as for his servant,
for the mistress as for her servant,
for seller as for buyer,(DN)
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.(DO)
3 The earth will be completely laid waste(DP)
and totally plundered.(DQ)
The Lord has spoken(DR) this word.
4 The earth dries up(DS) and withers,(DT)
the world languishes and withers,
the heavens(DU) languish with the earth.(DV)
5 The earth is defiled(DW) by its people;
they have disobeyed(DX) the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.(DY)
6 Therefore a curse(DZ) consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,(EA)
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up(EB) and the vine withers;(EC)
all the merrymakers groan.(ED)
8 The joyful timbrels(EE) are stilled,
the noise(EF) of the revelers(EG) has stopped,
the joyful harp(EH) is silent.(EI)
9 No longer do they drink wine(EJ) with a song;
the beer is bitter(EK) to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city(EL) lies desolate;(EM)
the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out(EN) for wine;(EO)
all joy turns to gloom,(EP)
all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,(EQ)
its gate(ER) is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,(ES)
or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.(ET)
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;(EU)
from the west(EV) they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore in the east(EW) give glory(EX) to the Lord;
exalt(EY) the name(EZ) of the Lord, the God of Israel,
in the islands(FA) of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth(FB) we hear singing:(FC)
“Glory(FD) to the Righteous One.”(FE)
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!(FF)
Woe(FG) to me!
The treacherous(FH) betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!(FI)”
17 Terror(FJ) and pit and snare(FK) await you,
people of the earth.(FL)
18 Whoever flees(FM) at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;(FN)
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.(FO)
The floodgates of the heavens(FP) are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.(FQ)
19 The earth is broken up,(FR)
the earth is split asunder,(FS)
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,(FT)
it sways like a hut(FU) in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion(FV)
that it falls(FW)—never to rise again.(FX)
21 In that day(FY) the Lord will punish(FZ)
the powers(GA) in the heavens above
and the kings(GB) on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
like prisoners(GC) bound in a dungeon;(GD)
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished[e] after many days.(GE)
23 The moon will be dismayed,
the sun(GF) ashamed;
for the Lord Almighty will reign(GG)
on Mount Zion(GH) and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders—with great glory.(GI)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:23 Or throne
- Isaiah 23:3 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls Sidon, / who cross over the sea; / your envoys 3 are on the great waters. / The grain of the Shihor, / the harvest of the Nile,
- Isaiah 23:10 Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts; Masoretic Text Go through
- Isaiah 23:13 Or Chaldeans
- Isaiah 24:22 Or released
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