English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops,
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A Message concerning the Valley of Vision: What's going on here anyway? All this partying and noisemaking,
2 you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.
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Shouting and cheering in the streets, the city noisy with celebrations!
3 All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.
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You have no brave soldiers to honor, no combat heroes to be proud of. Your leaders were all cowards, captured without even lifting a sword, A country of cowards captured escaping the battle. You Looked, but You Never Looked to Him
4 Therefore I said: "Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people."
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In the midst of the shouting, I said, "Let me alone. Let me grieve by myself. Don't tell me it's going to be all right. These people are doomed. It's not all right."
5 For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.
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For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people, Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision, knocking down walls and hollering to the mountains, "Attack! Attack!"
6 And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
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Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth - weapons and chariots and cavalry.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
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Your fine valleys are noisy with war, chariots and cavalry charging this way and that.
8 He has taken away the covering of Judah.In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,
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God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.
9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool,
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You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool.
10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
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You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall.
11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
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You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water. You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.
12 In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
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The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, called out on that Day, Called for a day of repentant tears, called you to dress in somber clothes of mourning.
13 and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
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But what do you do? You throw a party! Eating and drinking and dancing in the streets! You barbecue bulls and sheep, and throw a huge feast - slabs of meat, kegs of beer. "Seize the day! Eat and drink! Tomorrow we die!"
14 The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.
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God-of-the-Angel-Armies whispered to me his verdict on this frivolity: "You'll pay for this outrage until the day you die." The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says so. The Key of the Davidic Heritage
15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:
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The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, spoke: "Come. Go to this steward, Shebna, who is in charge of all the king's affairs, and tell him:
16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?
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What's going on here? You're an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you're important.
17 Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you
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God is about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He'll grab you by the hair,
18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house.
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swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you're out of sight. Where you'll land, nobody knows. And there you'll die, and all the stuff you've collected heaped on your grave. You've disgraced your master's house!
19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.
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You're fired - and good riddance!
20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
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"On that Day I'll replace Shebna. I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
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I'll dress him in your robe. I'll put your belt on him. I'll give him your authority. He'll be a father-leader to Jerusalem and the government of Judah.
22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
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I'll give him the key of the Davidic heritage. He'll have the run of the place - open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked.
23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.
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I'll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He'll secure the Davidic tradition.
24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
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Everything will hang on him - not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery.
25 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."
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"And then the Day will come," says God-of-the-Angel-Armies, "when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall - and everything hanging on it will go with it." That's what will happen. God says so.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.