Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 22 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 The word about the valley of vision. Why have all your people gone up to the house-tops?
1 The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2 You, who are full of loud voices, a town of outcries, given up to joy; your dead men have not been put to the sword, or come to their death in war.
2 You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town, your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
3 All your rulers ... have gone in flight; all your strong ones have gone far away.
3 All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away.
4 For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
5 For it is a day of trouble and of crushing down and of destruction from the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the valley of vision; ...
5 For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.”
6 And Elam was armed with arrows, and Aram came on horseback; and the breastplate of Kir was uncovered.
6 Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 And your most fertile valleys were full of war-carriages, and the horsemen took up their positions in front of the town.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8 He took away the cover of Judah; and in that day you were looking with care at the store of arms in the house of the woods.
8 He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.
9 And you saw all the broken places in the wall of the town of David: and you got together the waters of the lower pool.
9 You saw the breaches of David’s city, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10 And you had the houses of Jerusalem numbered, pulling down the houses to make the wall stronger.
10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11 And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before.
11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who planned it long ago.
12 And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief:
12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;
13 But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.
13 and behold, there is joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”
14 And the Lord of armies said to me secretly, Truly, this sin will not be taken from you till your death, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.
14 Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
15 The Lord, the Lord of armies, says, Go to this person in authority, this Shebna, who is over the house; who has made himself a resting-place on high, cutting out a place for himself in the rock, and say,
15 The Lord, Yahweh of Armies says, “Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,
16 Who are you, and by what right have you made for yourself a resting-place here?
16 ‘What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!”
17 See, O strong man, the Lord will send you violently away, gripping you with force,
17 Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.
18 Twisting you round and round like a ball he will send you out into a wide country: there you will come to your end, and there will be the carriages of your pride, O shame of your lord's house!
18 He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you disgrace of your lord’s house.
19 And I will have you forced out of your place of authority, and pulled down from your position.
19 I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.
20 And in that day I will send for my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah:
20 It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21 And I will put your robe on him, and put your band about him, and I will give your authority into his hand: and he will be a father to the men of Jerusalem, and to the family of Judah.
21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22 And I will give the key of the family of David into his care; and what he keeps open will be shut by no one, and what he keeps shut no one will make open.
22 I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
23 And I will put him like a nail in a safe place; and he will be for a seat of glory to his father's family.
23 I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house.
24 And all the glory of his father's family will be hanging on him, all their offspring, every small vessel, even the cups and the basins.
24 They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.
25 In that day, says the Lord of armies, will the nail fixed in a safe place give way; and it will be cut down, and in its fall the weight hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has said it.
25 “In that day,” says Yahweh of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it.”
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 21:13; Psalm 125:2; Joel 3:14; Isaiah 15:3; Joel 3:12
- 2 Isaiah 32:13; Jeremiah 14:18; Lamentations 2:20; Isaiah 23:7; Jeremiah 52:6
- 3 Isaiah 3:1–8; 2 Kings 25:4–7; 2 Kings 25:18–21; Jeremiah 52:24–27; Jeremiah 39:4–7
- 4 Jeremiah 9:1; Matthew 2:18; Jeremiah 13:17; Micah 1:8; Psalm 77:2
- 5 Isaiah 10:6; Micah 7:4; Lamentations 1:5; Isaiah 37:3; Luke 23:30
- 6 2 Kings 16:9; Isaiah 21:2; Amos 9:7; Amos 1:5; Isaiah 15:1
- 7 Isaiah 8:7–8; Jeremiah 39:1–3; Isaiah 10:28–32; Isaiah 37:34
- 8 1 Kings 10:17; 1 Kings 7:2; 1 Kings 14:27–28; Song of Songs 4:4; Isaiah 36:1–3
- 9 2 Kings 20:20; Nehemiah 3:16; 2 Chronicles 32:1–6; 2 Chronicles 32:30
- 11 Jeremiah 33:2–3; Micah 7:7; Isaiah 17:7; 2 Kings 25:4; Isaiah 31:1
- 12 Micah 1:16; Joel 1:13; Joel 2:17; Amos 8:10; Ecclesiastes 3:4
- 13 Isaiah 56:12; 1 Corinthians 15:32; Luke 17:26–29; James 5:5; Isaiah 5:22
- 14 Ezekiel 24:13; Isaiah 5:9; 1 Samuel 3:14; Isaiah 26:21; Isaiah 13:11
- 15 Isaiah 36:3; 2 Kings 18:18; 2 Kings 19:2; Isaiah 37:2; 2 Kings 18:37
- 16 Matthew 27:60; 2 Samuel 18:18; 2 Chronicles 16:14; Job 3:14; Isaiah 52:5
- 17 Jeremiah 14:3; Job 9:24; Esther 7:8
- 18 Isaiah 17:13; Amos 7:17
- 19 Ezekiel 17:24; Psalm 75:6–7; Luke 1:52; Job 40:11–12
- 20 2 Kings 18:18; Isaiah 36:3; Isaiah 37:2; 2 Kings 18:37; Isaiah 36:22
- 21 Genesis 45:8; Isaiah 9:6–7; Genesis 41:42–43; 1 Samuel 18:4; Esther 8:15
- 22 Revelation 3:7; Matthew 16:18–19; Job 12:14; Matthew 18:18–19; Revelation 1:18
- 23 Job 36:7; Ezra 9:8; 1 Samuel 2:8; Zechariah 10:4; Ecclesiastes 12:11
- 24 John 20:21–23; 2 Timothy 2:20–21; Daniel 6:1–3; Matthew 28:18; John 5:22–27
- 25 Isaiah 46:11; Isaiah 22:23; Jeremiah 17:5–6; Micah 4:4; Esther 9:24–25
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
So with the Scribes; suppose them to speak out of their own heart; thou wilt hear, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die." Suppose them to speak from Moses' seat; thou wilt hear, "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not bear false witness.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)