Isaiah 22:1-13 ▼

1 THE WORD OF THE VALLEY OF SION. What has happened to thee, that now ye are all gone up to the housetops which help you not?

2 The city is filled with shouting men : thy slain are not slain with swords, nor are thy dead those who have died in battle.

3 All thy princes have fled, and thy captives are tightly bound, and the mighty men in thee have fled far away.

4 Therefore I said, Let me alone, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me for the breach of the daughter of my people.

5 For it is a day of trouble, and of destruction, and of treading down, and there is perplexity sent from the Lord of hosts: they wander in the valley of Sion; they wander from the least to the greatest on the mountains.

6 And the Elamites took their quivers, and there were men mounted on horses, and there was a gathering for battle.

7 And it shall be that thy choice valleys shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen shall block up thy gates.

8 And they shall uncover the gates of Juda, and they shall look in that day on the choice houses of the city.

9 And they shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David: and they saw that they were many, and that one had turned the water of the old pool into the city;

10 and that they had pulled down the houses of Jerusalem, to fortify the wall of the city.

11 And ye procured to yourselves water between the two walls within the ancient pool: but ye looked not to him that made it from the beginning, and regarded not him that created it.

12 And the Lord, the Lord of hosts, called in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and baldness, and for girding with sackcloth:

13 but they engaged in joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing sheep, so as to eat flesh, and drink wine; saying, Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.