bWhat can have happened to you
That you have gone, all of you, up on the roofs,
2O you who were full of tumult,
You clamorous town,
You city so gay?
Your slain are not the slain of the sword
Nor the dead of battle.c
3Your officers have all departed,
They fled far away;
Your survivors were all taken captive,
a-Taken captive without their bows.-a
4That is why I say, “Let me be,
I will weep bitterly.
Press not to comfort me
For the ruin of d-my poor people.”-d
5For my Lord GOD of Hosts had a day
Of tumult and din and confusion—
e-Kir raged in the Valley of Vision,
And Shoa on the hill;-e
6While Elam bore the quiver
In troops of mounted men,
And Kir bared the shield—
7And your choicest lowlands
Were filled with chariots and horsemen:
They stormed at Judah’sf gateway
8And pressed beyond its screen.g
You gave thought on that day
To the arms in the Forest House,h
9And you took note of the many breaches
In the City of David.
10i-And you collected the water of the Lower Pool;-i and you counted the houses of Jerusalem and pulled houses down to fortify the wall; 11and you constructed a basin between the two walls for the water of the old pool.
But you gave no thought to Him who planned it,
You took no note of Him who designed it long before.
12My Lord GOD of Hosts summoned on that day
To weeping and lamenting,
To tonsuring and girding with sackcloth.
13Instead, there was rejoicing and merriment,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
14Then the LORD of Hosts revealed Himself to my ears:
“This iniquity shall never be forgiven you
Until you die,” said my Lord GOD of Hosts.
15Thus said my Lord GOD of Hosts: Go in to see that steward, that Shebna, in charge of the palace:
16What have you here, and whom have you here,
That you have hewn out a tomb for yourself here?—
O you who have hewn yourj tomb on high;
O you who have hollowed out for yourselfj an abode in the cliff!
17The LORD is about to shake you
k-Severely, fellow,-k and then wrap you around Himself.l
18Indeed, He will wind you about Him m-as a headdress, a turban.-m
Off to a broad land!
There shall you die, and there shall be the n-chariots bearing your body,-n
O shame of your master’s house!
19For I will hurl you from your station
And you shall be torn down from your stand.
20And in that day, I will summon My servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah, 21and I will invest him with your tunic, gird him with your sash, and deliver your authority into his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah. 22I will place the keys of David’s palace on his shoulders; and what he unlocks none may shut, and what he locks none may open. 23He shall be a seat of honor to his father’so household. I will fix him as a peg in a firm place, 24on which all the substance of his father’so household shall be hung: a-the sprouts and the leaves-a—all the small vessels, from bowls to all sorts of jars.
25pIn that day—declares the LORD of Hosts—the peg fixed in a firm place shall give way: it shall be cut down and shall fall, and the weight it supports shall be destroyed. For it is the LORD who has spoken.
23 The “Tyre” Pronouncement.
Howl, you a-ships of Tarshish!-a
For havoc has been wrought, not a house is left;
As they came from the land of Kittim,
This was revealed to them.
2Moan, you coastland dwellers,
You traders of Sidon,
Once thronged by seafarers,
3Over many waters
Yourb revenue came:
From the trade of nations,
From the grain of Shihor,
The harvest of the Nile.
4Be ashamed, O Sidon!
For the sea—this stronghold of the sea—declares,
c-“I am as one who has-cnever labored,
Never given birth,
Never raised youths
Or reared maidens!”
5When the Egyptians heard it, they quailed
As when they heard about Tyre.
6Pass on to Tarshish—
Howl, you coastland dwellers!
7Was such your merry city
In former times, of yore?
Did her feet carry her off
To sojourn far away?
8Who was it that planned this
For crown-wearing Tyre,
Whose merchants were nobles,
Whose traders the world honored?
9The LORD of Hosts planned it—
To defile all glorious beauty,
To shame all the honored of the world.
10d-Traverse your land like the Nile,
Fair Tarshish;-d
This is a harbore no more.
11The LORD poised His arm o’er the sea
And made kingdoms quake;
It was He decreed destruction
For Phoenicia’sf strongholds,
12And said,
“You shall be gay no more,
O plundered one, Fair Maiden Sidon.
Up, cross over to Kittim—
Even there you shall have no rest.”
13gBehold the land of Chaldea—
This is the people that has ceased to be.
Assyria, which founded it for ships,
Which raised its watchtowers,
Erected its ramparts,
Has turned it into a ruin.
14Howl, O ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold is destroyed!
15In that day, Tyre shall remain forgotten for seventy years, equaling the lifetime of one king. After a lapse of seventy years, it shall go with Tyre as with the harlot in the ditty:
16Take a lyre, go about the town,
Harlot long forgotten;
Sweetly play, make much music,
To bring you back to mind.
17For after a lapse of seventy years, the LORD will take note of Tyre, and she shall resume her h-“fee-taking” and “play the harlot”-h with all the kingdoms of the world, on the face of the earth. 18But her profits and “hire” shall be consecrated to the LORD. They shall not be treasured or stored; rather shall her profits go to those who abide before the LORD, that they may eat their fill and clothe themselves elegantly.
24 Behold,
The LORD will strip the earth bare,
And lay it waste,
And twist its surface,
And scatter its inhabitants.
2Layman and priest shall fare alike,
Slave and master,
Handmaid and mistress,
Buyer and seller,
Lender and borrower,
Creditor and debtor.
3The earth shall be bare, bare;
It shall be plundered, plundered;
For it is the LORD who spoke this word.
4The earth is withered, sear;
The world languishes, it is sear;
a-The most exalted people of the earth-a languish.
5For the earth was defiled
Under its inhabitants;
Because they transgressed teachings,
Violated laws,
Broke the ancient covenant.b
6That is why a curse consumes the earth,
And its inhabitants pay the penalty;
That is why earth’s dwellers have dwindled,
And but few men are left.
7The new wine fails,
The vine languishes;
And all the merry-hearted sigh.
8Stilled is the merriment of timbrels,
Ended the clamor of revelers,
Stilled the merriment of lyres.
9They drink their wine without song;
Liquor tastes bitter to the drinker.
10Towns are broken,c empty;
Every house is shut, none enters;
11Even over wine, a cry goes up in the streets:
The sun has set on all joy,
The gladness of the earth is banished.
12Desolation is left in the town
And the gate is battered to ruins.
13For thus shall it be among the peoples
In the midst of the earth:
As when the olive tree is beaten out,
Like gleanings when the vintage is over.
14These shall lift up their voices,
Exult in the majesty of the LORD.
They shall shout from the sea:
15Therefore, honor the LORD with lights
In the coastlands of the sea—
The name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
16From the end of the earth
We hear singing:
Glory to the righteous!
d-And I said:-d
e-I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me!
The faithless have acted faithlessly;
The faithless have broken faith!-e
17f-Terror, and pit, and trap-f
Upon you who dwell on earth!
18He who flees at the report of the terror
Shall fall into the pit;
And he who climbs out of the pit
Shall be caught in the trap.
For sluices are opened on high,
And earth’s foundations tremble.
19The earth is breaking, breaking;
The earth is crumbling, crumbling.
The earth is tottering, tottering;
20The earth is swaying like a drunkard;
It is rocking to and fro like a hut.
Its iniquity shall weigh it down,
And it shall fall, to rise no more.
21In that day, the LORD will punish
The host of heaven in heaven
And the kings of the earth on earth.
22They shall be gathered in a dungeon
As captives are gathered;
And shall be locked up in a prison.
But after many days they shall be remembered.
23Then the moon shall be ashamed,
And the sun shall be abashed.
For the LORD of Hosts will reign
On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And the Presence will be revealed to His elders.
25 O LORD, You are my God;
I will extol You, I will praise Your name.
For You planned graciousnessa of old,
Counsels of steadfast faithfulness.
2For You have turned a city into a stone heap,
A walled town into a ruin,
The citadel of strangersb into rubble,c
Never to be rebuilt.
3Therefore a fierce people must honor You,
A city of cruel nations must fear You.
4For You have been a refuge for the poor man,
A shelter for the needy man in his distress—
Shelter from rainstorm, shade from heat.
When the fury of tyrants was like a winterc rainstorm,
5The rage of strangersb like heat in the desert,
You subdued the heat with the shade of clouds,
The singingd of the tyrants was vanquished.
6The LORD of Hosts will make on this mount-e
For all the peoples
A banquet ofc-rich viands,
A banquet of choice wines—
Of rich viands seasoned with marrow,
Of choice wines-c well refined.
7And He will destroy on this mounte the shroud
That is drawn over the faces of all the peoples
And the covering that is spread
Over all the nations:
8He will destroy deathf forever.
My Lord GOD will wipe the tears away
From all faces
And will put an end to the reproach of g-His people-g
Over all the earth—
For it is the LORD who has spoken.
9In that day they shall say:
This is our God;
We trusted in Him, and He delivered us.
This is the LORD, in whom we trusted;
Let us rejoice and exult in His deliverance!
10For the hand of the LORD shall descend
Upon this mount,e
And Moabh shall be trampled under Him
As straw is threshed to bits at Madmenah.i
11Then He will spread out His hands in their homeland,j
As a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
And He will humble their pride
Along with k-the emblems of their power. -k
12Yea, the secure fortification of theirl walls
He will lay low and humble,
Will raze to the ground, to the very dust.
26 In that day, this song shall be
