Isaiah 22:1-13

New International Version

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

22 A prophecy^(A) against the Valley^(B) of Vision:^(C)

What troubles you now,
    that you have all gone up on the roofs,^(D)
²you town so full of commotion,
    you city of tumult^(E) and revelry?^(F)
Your slain^(G) were not killed by the sword,^(H)
    nor did they die in battle.
³All your leaders have fled^(I) together;
    they have been captured^(J) without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
    having fled while the enemy was still far away.
⁴Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
    let me weep^(K) bitterly.
Do not try to console me
    over the destruction of my people.”^(L)

⁵The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day^(M)
    of tumult and trampling^(N) and terror^(O)
    in the Valley of Vision,^(P)
a day of battering down walls^(Q)
    and of crying out to the mountains.
⁶Elam^(R) takes up the quiver,^(S)
    with her charioteers and horses;
    Kir^(T) uncovers the shield.
⁷Your choicest valleys^(U) are full of chariots,
    and horsemen are posted at the city gates.^(V)

⁸The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
    and you looked in that day^(W)
    to the weapons^(X) in the Palace of the Forest.^(Y)
⁹You saw that the walls of the City of David
    were broken through^(Z) in many places;
you stored up water
    in the Lower Pool.^(AA)
¹⁰You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
    and tore down houses^(AB) to strengthen the wall.^(AC)
¹¹You built a reservoir between the two walls^(AD)
    for the water of the Old Pool,^(AE)
but you did not look to the One who made it,
    or have regard^(AF) for the One who planned^(AG) it long ago.

¹²The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day^(AH)
to weep^(AI) and to wail,
    to tear out your hair^(AJ) and put on sackcloth.^(AK)
¹³But see, there is joy and revelry,^(AL)
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!^(AM)
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
    “for tomorrow we die!”^(AN)