1 The burden of the valley of vision.
What hast thou here,
[379]That thou art entirely gone up upon the roofs?
2 Full of miseries,
Tumultuous city, joyful city;
Thy slain men are not slain by the sword,
And are not dead in battle.
3 All thy rulers have fled;
Together have they been made prisoners by the archers; All that were found in thee have been made prisoners together, Who have fled from afar.
4 Therefore I said, Let me alone;
I will be bitter in my weeping;
Labour not to comfort me
Because of the plundering of the daughters of my people.
5 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity, From the Lord Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision, Demolishing the city,
And crying to the mountain.
6 Yet Elam beareth the quiver
In a chariot of men and horsemen,
And Kir uncovereth the shield.
7 And the choice of thy valleys was filled with chariots, And horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8 And he took away the covering of Judah;
And thou didst look in that day
To the armory of the house of the forest.
9 And ye have seen the breaches of the city of David, which were many; And ye collected the waters of the lower pool.
10 And the houses of Jerusalem have ye numbered,
And ye have thrown down houses to fortify the wall.
11 For the waters of the old pool
Have ye also made a ditch between the walls;
And ye have not looked to him that made it,
And have not seen him that formed it in ancient times. [380]
12 And in that day the Lord, Jehovah of hosts,
Called to weeping and to lamentation,
To baldness and girding with sackcloth;
13 And, behold! joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen, killing sheep,
Eating flesh, and drinking wine,
Eating and drinking;
For tomorrow we shall die!
14 It was revealed in my ears by Jehovah of hosts,
If this iniquity shall be forgiven you till ye die, Saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts.
15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts,
Go, approach to that abettor,
To Shebna, the ruler of the house.
16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here?
That thou hast hewed out here for thyself a sepulchre, As he who heweth out his sepulchre on high,
Or who cutteth out a habitation for himself in the rock.
17 Behold, Jehovah will carry thee away with a remarkable carrying away,
And covering will cover thee.
18 Whirling he will turn thee with whirling,
As a ball with the hands, into a distant country;
There shalt thou die;
And there the chariot of thy glory
Shall be the disgrace of the house of thy lord.
19 And I will drive thee from thy post,
And from thy abode shall he east thee out.
20 And it shall be in that day, I will call my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
21 And I will clothe him with thy raiment,
And will strengthen him with thy girdle,
And will deliver thy power into his hand;
And he shall be a father of the inhabitant of Jerusalem, And of the house of Judah.
22 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; He will open, and none shall shut;
He will shut, and none shall open.
23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, And to the house of his father he shall become a throne of glory.
24 And all the glory of his fathers house,
Grandchildren and great-grandchildren,
All smaller vessels,
From vessels of cups to all vessels of musical instruments, They shall hang upon him.
25 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts,
The nail fixed in a sure place shall be removed,
And shall be cut down, and shall fall;
And the burden which was upon it shall be cut off;
For Jehovah hath spoken it.
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