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Isaiah 22 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

A Message about Jerusalem

Isa 22:1

Isa 22:1This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision[fn]:
What is happening?
Why is everyone running to the rooftops?

Isa 22:2

Isa 22:2The whole city is in a terrible uproar.
What do I see in this reveling city?
Bodies are lying everywhere,
killed not in battle but by famine and disease.

Isa 22:3

Isa 22:3All your leaders have fled.
They surrendered without resistance.
The people tried to slip away,
but they were captured, too.

Isa 22:4

Isa 22:4That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep;
do not try to comfort me.
Let me cry for my people
as I watch them being destroyed.”

Isa 22:5

Isa 22:5Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!
What a day of confusion and terror
brought by the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
upon the Valley of Vision!
The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,
and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.

Isa 22:6

Isa 22:6Elamites are the archers,
with their chariots and charioteers.
The men of Kir hold up the shields.

Isa 22:7

Isa 22:7Chariots fill your beautiful valleys,
and charioteers storm your gates.

Isa 22:8

Isa 22:8Judah’s defenses have been stripped away.
You run to the armory[fn] for your weapons.

Isa 22:9

Isa 22:9You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.[fn]
You store up water in the lower pool.

Isa 22:10

Isa 22:10You survey the houses and tear some down
for stone to strengthen the walls.

Isa 22:11

Isa 22:11Between the city walls, you build a reservoir
for water from the old pool.
But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.
You never considered the One who planned this long ago.

Isa 22:12

Isa 22:12At that time the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
called you to weep and mourn.
He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.

Isa 22:13

Isa 22:13But instead, you dance and play;
you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.
You feast on meat and drink wine.
You say, “Let’s feast and drink,
for tomorrow we die!”

Isa 22:14

Isa 22:14The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
A Message for Shebna

Isa 22:15

Isa 22:15This is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:

Isa 22:16

Isa 22:16“Who do you think you are,
and what are you doing here,
building a beautiful tomb for yourself—
a monument high up in the rock?

Isa 22:17

Isa 22:17For the LORD is about to hurl you away, mighty man.
He is going to grab you,

Isa 22:18

Isa 22:18crumple you into a ball,
and toss you away into a distant, barren land.
There you will die,
and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.
You are a disgrace to your master!

Isa 22:19

Isa 22:19“Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the LORD. “I will pull you down from your high position.

Isa 22:20

Isa 22:20And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you.

Isa 22:21

Isa 22:21I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

Isa 22:22

Isa 22:22I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.

Isa 22:23

Isa 22:23He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall.

Isa 22:24

Isa 22:24They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.[fn]”

Isa 22:25

Isa 22:25But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies also says: “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the LORD, have spoken!”
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew concerning the Valley of Vision.
Hebrew to the House of the Forest; see 1 Kgs 7:2-5.
Hebrew the city of David.
Hebrew They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: its offspring and offshoots, all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
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Isaiah Chapter 22 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras