Isaiah 22

Call to Mourning Ignored Isaiah 22:5–11

⁵Verse 5. For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.” ⁶Verse 6. Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield. ⁷Verse 7. Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate. ⁸Verse 8. He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest. ⁹Verse 9. You saw the breaches of David’s city, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰Verse 10. You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹Verse 11. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.

God's Judgment Announced Isaiah 22:12–14

¹²Verse 12. In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth: ¹³Verse 13. and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” ¹⁴Verse 14. Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

Rebuke of Shebna Isaiah 22:15–19

¹⁵Verse 15. Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, “Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say, ¹⁶Verse 16. ‘What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!” ¹⁷Verse 17. Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly. ¹⁸Verse 18. He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord’s house.

¹⁹Verse 19. I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.

Eliakim as New Leader Isaiah 22:20–24

²⁰Verse 20. It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹Verse 21. and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. ²²Verse 22. I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open. ²³Verse 23. I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house.

²⁴Verse 24. They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.

The Fate of Eliakim Isaiah 22:25

²⁵Verse 25. “In that day,” says Yahweh of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it.”