The Vision of Isaiah

Chapter 22

The prophet laments the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem, 1-7. He reproves their human wisdom and worldly joy, 8-14. He prophesies Shebna's deprivation, 15-19, and the substitution of Eliakim, prefiguring the kingdom of Christ, 20-25.

1 [The burden of the valley of vision.] What ails you now, that you have wholly gone up to the house-tops?

2 The tumultuous city, the joyous city, is full of noise. Your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

3 All your rulers have fled together, they are bound by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together, who have fled from far.

4 Therefore, I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Do not labor to comfort me because of the devastation of the daughter of my people."

5 For it is a day of trouble, of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

6 And Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

7 And it shall come to pass, that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

8 And he uncovered the coverings of Judah, and you looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest.

9 You have also seen the breaches of the city of David, that they are many. And you collected the waters of the lower pool.

10 And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses you have broken down to fortify the wall.

11 You also made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you have not looked to its maker, neither had respect to him who fashioned it long ago.

12 And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth.

13 And behold, there is joy and gladness, slaying oxen, killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die."

14 And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts, "Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.

15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,

16 'What are you doing here? And who do you have here that you have hewed yourself out a sepulcher here, as he who hews himself out a sepulcher on high, and who engraves a habitation for himself in a rock?

17 Behold, the LORD will carry you away with a mighty captivity and will surely cover you.

18 With violence he will surely turn and toss you like a ball into a wide country. There you shall die, and there the chariots of your glory shall be the shame of your lord's house.'

19 And I will drive you from your station, and from your state he shall pull you down.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,

21 And I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open, and no one shall shut. And he shall shut, and no one shall open.

23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place. And he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the descendants, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. 25 In that day," says the LORD of hosts, "the nail that is fastened in the sure place shall give way, be cut down, and fall. And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off. For the LORD has spoken it."

Commentary

Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 22[➚]

Notes

[v.13] - Quoted in 1st Corinthians 15:32.

[v.22] - Reference, Revelation 3:7.

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