Oracle against Jerusalem

¹ The oracle of the valley of vision: ⌞What business do you have going⌟¹ up, all of you, to the roofs,

1. Literally “What to you then that you have gone”

² ⌞noisy⌟,¹ tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain by the sword, nor are they dead from battle.

1. Literally “full of noises”

³ All of your rulers have fled together without a bow; all of ⌞you who were found⌟¹ were captured. They were captured together; they had fled far away.

1. Literally “your found ones”

⁴ Therefore I said, “Look away from me, let me ⌞weep bitterly⌟;¹ you must not insist on comforting me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

1. Literally “be bitter in weeping”

⁵ For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion¹ in the valley of vision, a tearing down of walls² and a cry for help to the mountains.³

1. These three Hebrew words are alliterative: mehûmâûmeḇûsâûmeḇûḵâ
2. Hebrew “wall”
3. Hebrew “mountain”

⁶ And Elam lifted up the quiver, with chariots¹ of men² and cavalry. And Kir uncovered the shield.

1. Hebrew “chariot”
2. Hebrew “man”

⁷ And this happened: the choicest of your valleys were full of chariots,¹ and the cavalry confidently stood at the gate.

1. Hebrew “chariot”

⁸ And he uncovered the covering of Judah. And you looked, on that day, to the weapons¹ of the House of the Forest,

1. Hebrew “weapon”

⁹ and you saw that the breaches in the walls of the city of David were many, and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰ And you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

¹¹ And you made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the old pool, but you did not look to its maker, and you did not see ⌞the one who created it long ago⌟.¹

1. Literally “its creator from far away”

¹² And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called on that day for weeping and mourning, and for baldness and girding ⌞with⌟¹ sackcloth.

1. Literally “of”

¹³ But look! Joy and gladness, the killing of oxen¹ and the slaughtering of sheep, the eating of meat and the drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

1. Hebrew “ox”

¹⁴ And it was revealed in my ears by Yahweh of hosts: “Surely this sin will not be atoned for you until you die!” says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

Oracle regarding Shebna

¹⁵ The Lord, Yahweh of hosts, says this: “Go! Go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house:

¹⁶ ‘What ⌞business do you have⌟¹ here, and who ⌞do you have⌟² here, that you have cut a grave cutting here for yourself, carving his grave on the height, a dwelling place for him in the rock?

1. Literally “to you”
2. Literally “to you”

¹⁷ Look! Yahweh is about to ⌞really hurl⌟¹ you, man! And he is about to grasp you firmly;

1. Literally “hurl a hurling”

¹⁸ he will wind a winding tightly around you like a ball, to a ⌞wide land⌟.¹ There you shall die, and there the chariots of your splendor will be, disgrace to your master’s house!

1. Literally “land broad of sides”

¹⁹ And I will push you from your office, and he will throw you down from your position.

²⁰ And this shall happen: On that day I will call to my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah,

²¹ and I will clothe him with your tunic, and I will bind your sash firmly about him, and I will put your authority into his hand, and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants¹ of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”

²² And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he shall open and no one will be able to shut; and he shall shut and no one will be able to open.

²³ And I will drive him in like a peg into a secure place, and he will become like a throne of glory to the house of his father.

²⁴ And they will hang all of the heaviness of his father’s house on him, the offspring and the offshoot, all of the small vessels, from the ⌞bowls to the jars⌟.¹

1. Literally “vessels of the bowls to all of the vessels of the jars”

²⁵ On that day, ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was driven will move away into a secure place, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on her will be cut off. For Yahweh has spoken.’ ”

1. Literally “declaration of”