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This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
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O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.
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All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.
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Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
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For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision— of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains.
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Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.
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Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.
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He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.
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You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.
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You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.
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You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.
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On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
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But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”(a)
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The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,”
A Message for Shebna
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says the Lord GOD of Hosts.
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(15) This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:(16) What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
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Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,
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roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master.
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I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.
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On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
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I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
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I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.(b)
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I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.
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So they will hang on him the whole burden of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
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In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.
Footnotes