The Valley of Vision

1THE 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?

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

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

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

5For 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.

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

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

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

9And 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;

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

11And 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.

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

13but 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.

14And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of hosts: for this sin shall not be forgiven you, until ye die.

A Message for Shebna

15Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Go into the chamber, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him, Why art thou here?

16and what hast thou to do here, that thou hast here hewn thyself a sepulchre, and madest thyself a sepulchre on high, and hast graven for thyself a dwelling in the rock?

17Behold now, the Lord of hosts casts forth and will utterly destroy such a man, and will take away thy robe and thy glorious crown,

18and will cast thee into a great and unmeasured land, and there thou shalt die: and he will bring thy fair chariot to shame, and the house of thy prince to be trodden down.

19And thou shalt be removed from thy stewardship, and from thy place.

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

21and I will put on him thy robe, and I will grant him thy crown with power, and I will give thy stewardship into his hands: and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in Jerusalem, and to them that dwell in Juda.

22And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him: and I will give him the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open.

23And I will make him a ruler in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne of his father's house.

24And every one that is glorious in the house of his father shall trust in him, from the least to the greatest; and they shall depend upon him in that day. 25Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The man that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed: for the Lord has spoken it.