Isaiah 22
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 22Written by AI
The Valley of Vision is Jerusalem itself. While enemies threatened, the city partied, strengthened its walls and saw to its water supply, but never looked to the God who made it all. The second half confronts Shebna, a proud palace official, and promises that a faithful man, Eliakim, will be given his key and authority.
The Valley of Vision
This is the burden against the Valley of Vision:
What ails you now,
that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
O city of commotion,
O town of revelry?
Your slain did not die by the sword,
nor were they killed in battle.
All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together,
having fled to a distant place.
Therefore I said,
“Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly!
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision—
of breaking down the walls
and crying to the mountains.
Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovers the shield.
Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the gates.
He has uncovered
the defenses of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest. You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool. You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts
called for weeping and wailing,
for shaven heads
and the wearing of sackcloth.
But look, there is joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing:
“Until your dying day,
this sin of yours will never be atoned for,”
says the Lord GOD of Hosts.
A Message for Shebna
This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master. I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.
On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.
So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.”
Indeed, the LORD has spoken.