1The prophecy regarding the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem – the home of prophetic vision). What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2Your whole city is full of commotion, a joyous city given to revelry; your slain men were not killed with the sword, nor died in battle.
3All your leaders have fled together; they are captured without resistance, having fled while the enemy was still far off.
4Therefore I said, “Look away from me; let me weep bitterly, do not try to comfort me over the destruction of my people.
5For it is a day of trouble, and of crushing defeat, and of perplexity brought by the LORD Almighty in the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem), breaking down its walls, and of cries that echo off the mountains.”
6And the Elamites carried the quivers, with their charioteers and horsemen, and Kir raises the shield.
7And your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and horsemen posted at the city gates.
8The LORD stripped away the defenses of Judah, and in that day, you ran to the armory at the Palace of the Forest for weapons.
9You have also seen the breaches of the walls of the City of David, that they are many; and you stored up water from the lower pool.
10And you have surveyed the houses of Jerusalem, and have torn down houses to shore up the wall.
11You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water from the old pool, but you have not looked to the One Who has done all this, nor asked for help from Him That planned it long ago.
12And on that day the LORD Almighty called you to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to sackcloth.
13But look, joy and gladness, slaughtering oxen and sheep, eating meat, and drinking wine; saying “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die”.
14And this was revealed to me by the LORD Almighty, “Surely this iniquity shall not be atoned for till your dying day”, says the LORD God of hosts.
15Thus says the LORD God Almighty, “Go, get you to Shebna, the palace treasurer, who is steward the house, and say,
16’Who do you think you are, and what are you doing here? And who gave you authority to hew out a beautiful tomb for yourself – a monument high in the rock?’
17Beware, the LORD is about to have you seized and carried away with a mighty captivity, and will surely grasp you.
18He will surely roll you up like a ball and violently toss you into a large country; where you shall die, and there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master's house.
19“And I will drive you from your office, you shall be ousted from your position.
20And in that day, I will summon My servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;
21And I will clothe him with your robe, and give him your title and authority, and I will turn your government over to him; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22And I will give him the key to the house of David; so that what he shall open, none shall shut; and what he shall shut, and no one shall open.
23And I will establish him, fastened, like a nail in a sure place; and his shall be a glorious throne to honor his father's house”.
24And all the glory of his father's house they shall bestow upon him, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
25 “In that day”, says the LORD Almighty, “the nail that is fastened in the sure place shall give way, and fall, and the load that was hung on it shall fall with it”; for the LORD has spoken it. Isaiah 23 Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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