| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops, | 1This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision : What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops? |
| 2you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle. | 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. |
| 3All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away. | 3All your leaders have fled. They surrendered without resistance. The people tried to slip away, but they were captured, too. |
| 4Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.” | 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.” |
| 5For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains. | 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. |
| 6And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. | 6Elamites are the archers, with their chariots and charioteers. The men of Kir hold up the shields. |
| 7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. | 7Chariots fill your beautiful valleys, and charioteers storm your gates. |
| 8He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, | 8Judah’s defenses have been stripped away. You run to the armory for your weapons. |
| 9and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, | 9You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem. You store up water in the lower pool. |
| 10and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. | 10You survey the houses and tear some down for stone to strengthen the walls. |
| 11You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago. | 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. |
| 12In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; | 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. |
| 13and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” | 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!” |
| 14The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts. | 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 |
| 15Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: | 15This is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message: |
| 16What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? | 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? |
| 17Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you | 17For the LORD is about to hurl you away, mighty man. He is going to grab you, |
| 18and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. | 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! |
| 19I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. | 19“Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the LORD. “I will pull you down from your high position. |
| 20In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, | 20And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. |
| 21and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. | 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. |
| 22And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. | 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. |
| 23And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. | 23He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. |
| 24And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. | 24They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family. ” |
| 25In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.” | 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!” |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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