A Prophecy About Jerusalem

22 A prophecyd against the Valleye of Vision:f

What troubles you now,

that you have all gone up on the roofs,g

2 you town so full of commotion,

you city of tumulth and revelry?i

Your slainj were not killed by the sword,k

nor did they die in battle.

3 All your leaders have fledl together;

they have been capturedm without using the bow.

All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,

having fled while the enemy was still far away.

4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;

let me weepn bitterly.

Do not try to console me

over the destruction of my people.”o

5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a dayp

of tumult and tramplingq and terrorr

in the Valley of Vision,s

a day of battering down wallst

and of crying out to the mountains.

6 Elamu takes up the quiver,v

with her charioteers and horses;

Kirw uncovers the shield.

7 Your choicest valleysx are full of chariots,

and horsemen are posted at the city gates.y

8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,

and you looked in that dayz

to the weaponsa in the Palace of the Forest.b

9 You saw that the walls of the City of David

were broken throughc in many places;

you stored up water

in the Lower Pool.d

10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem

and tore down housese to strengthen the wall.f

11 You built a reservoir between the two wallsg

for the water of the Old Pool,h

but you did not look to the One who made it,

or have regardi for the One who plannedj it long ago.

12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,

called you on that dayk

to weepl and to wail,

to tear out your hairm and put on sackcloth.n

13 But see, there is joy and revelry,o

slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine!p

“Let us eat and drink,” you say,

“for tomorrow we die!”q

14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:r “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoneds for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:

“Go, say to this steward,

to Shebnat the palaceu administrator:v

16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission

to cut out a gravew for yourselfx here,

hewing your grave on the height

and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

17 “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you

and hurly you away, you mighty man.

18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball

and throwz you into a large country.

There you will die

and there the chariotsa you were so proud of

will become a disgrace to your master’s house.

19 I will depose you from your office,

and you will be oustedb from your position.c

20 “In that dayd I will summon my servant,e Eliakimf son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sashg around him and hand your authorityh over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulderi the keyj to the house of David;k what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.l 23 I will drive him like a pegm into a firm place;n he will become a seata of honoro for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

25 “In that day,p” declares the Lord Almighty, “the pegq driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.r

A Prophecy Against Tyre

23 A prophecy against Tyre:s

Wail,t you shipsu of Tarshish!v

For Tyre is destroyedw

and left without house or harbor.

From the land of Cyprus

word has come to them.

2 Be silent,x you people of the island

and you merchantsy of Sidon,z

whom the seafarers have enriched.

3 On the great waters

came the grain of the Shihor;a

the harvest of the Nilea b was the revenue of Tyre,c

and she became the marketplace of the nations.

4 Be ashamed, Sidon,d and you fortress of the sea,

for the sea has spoken:

“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;e

I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”

5 When word comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguishf at the report from Tyre.g

6 Cross over to Tarshish;h

wail, you people of the island.

7 Is this your city of revelry,i

the old, old city,

whose feet have taken her

to settle in far-off lands?

8 Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose merchantsj are princes,

whose tradersk are renowned in the earth?

9 The Lord Almighty plannedl it,

to bring downm her pride in all her splendor

and to humblen all who are renownedo on the earth.

10 Tillb your land as they do along the Nile,

Daughter Tarshish,

for you no longer have a harbor.

11 The Lord has stretched out his handp over the sea

and made its kingdoms tremble.q

He has given an order concerning Phoenicia

that her fortresses be destroyed.r

12 He said, “No more of your reveling,s

Virgin Daughtert Sidon, now crushed!

“Up, cross over to Cyprus;u

even there you will find no rest.”

13 Look at the land of the Babylonians,c v

this people that is now of no account!

The Assyriansw have made it

a place for desert creatures;x

they raised up their siege towers,y

they stripped its fortresses bare

and turned it into a ruin.z

14 Wail, you shipsa of Tarshish;b

your fortress is destroyed!c

15 At that time Tyred will be forgotten for seventy years,e the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16 “Take up a harp, walk through the city,

you forgotten prostitute;f

play the harp well, sing many a song,

so that you will be remembered.”

17 At the end of seventy years,g the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitutionh and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.i 18 Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord;j they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord,k for abundant food and fine clothes.l

The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth

24 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earthm

and devastaten it;

he will ruin its face

and scattero its inhabitants—

2 it will be the same

for priest as for people,p

for the master as for his servant,

for the mistress as for her servant,

for seller as for buyer,q

for borrower as for lender,

for debtor as for creditor.r

3 The earth will be completely laid wastes

and totally plundered.t

The Lord has spokenu this word.

4 The earth dries upv and withers,w

the world languishes and withers,

the heavensx languish with the earth.y

5 The earth is defiledz by its people;

they have disobeyeda the laws,

violated the statutes

and broken the everlasting covenant.b

6 Therefore a cursec consumes the earth;

its people must bear their guilt.

Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,d

and very few are left.

7 The new wine dries upe and the vine withers;f

all the merrymakers groan.g

8 The joyful timbrelsh are stilled,

the noisei of the revelersj has stopped,

the joyful harpk is silent.l

9 No longer do they drink winem with a song;

the beer is bittern to its drinkers.

10 The ruined cityo lies desolate;p

the entrance to every house is barred.

11 In the streets they cry outq for wine;r

all joy turns to gloom,s

all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.

12 The city is left in ruins,t

its gateu is battered to pieces.

13 So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,v

or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.w

14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;x

from the westy they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.

15 Therefore in the eastz give glorya to the Lord;

exaltb the namec of the Lord, the God of Israel,

in the islandsd of the sea.

16 From the ends of the earthe we hear singing:f

“Gloryg to the Righteous One.”h

But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!i

Woej to me!

The treacherousk betray!

With treachery the treacherous betray!l”

17 Terrorm and pit and snaren await you,

people of the earth.o

18 Whoever fleesp at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit;q

whoever climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a snare.r

The floodgates of the heavenss are opened,

the foundations of the earth shake.t

19 The earth is broken up,u

the earth is split asunder,v

the earth is violently shaken.

20 The earth reels like a drunkard,w

it sways like a hutx in the wind;

so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebelliony

that it fallsz—never to rise again.a

21 In that dayb the Lord will punishc

the powersd in the heavens above

and the kingse on the earth below.

22 They will be herded together

like prisonersf bound in a dungeon;g

they will be shut up in prison

and be punisheda after many days.h

23 The moon will be dismayed,

the suni ashamed;

for the Lord Almighty will reignj

on Mount Zionk and in Jerusalem,

and before its elders—with great glory.l