What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,
² 
You [Jerusalem] who were full of noise,
A tumultuous city, a joyous and exuberant city;
Your slain were not slain [in a glorious death] with the sword,
Nor did they die in battle.
³ 
All your leaders have fled together [with your king],
And have been captured without the bow [which they had thrown away];
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
Though they had fled far away.
⁴ 
Therefore I say, “Look away from me;
Let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
⁵ 
For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic and of tumult, of trampling, of confusion
In the Valley of Vision,
A [day of] breaking down walls
And a crying [for help] to the mountain.
⁶ 
Elam took up the quiver
With the chariots, infantry and horsemen;
And Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷ 
And it came to pass that your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
And the horsemen took their fixed positions [in an offensive array] at the gate [of Jerusalem].^(A)
8 
Then God removed the [protective] covering of Judah;
And in that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest (Solomon’s armory).^(B)
9 
You saw that the breaches
In the wall of the City of David [the citadel of Zion] were many;
You collected [within the city’s walls] the waters of the Lower Pool (Siloam).
¹⁰ 
Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem
And you tore down the houses [to get materials] to fortify the city wall [by extending it].
¹¹ 
You also made a reservoir between the two walls
For the waters of the ^[b]Old Pool,
But you did not look to its Maker,
Nor did you recognize Him who planned it long ago.

¹² 
Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning,
To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].
¹³ 
Instead, there is joy and jubilation,
Killing of oxen and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine, saying,
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”
¹⁴ 
But the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in my ears,
“This sin absolutely will not be forgiven you
Until you die,” says the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁵ 
For the Lord God of hosts says this, “Go to this [contemptible] steward,
To ^[c]Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [but is building himself a tomb worthy of a king, and say to him],
¹⁶ 
‘What business do you have here?
And whom do you have here,
That you have hewn out a tomb here for yourself,
You who hew a sepulcher on the height,
You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?
¹⁷ 
‘Listen carefully, the Lord is about to hurl you away violently, O man;
And He is about to grasp you firmly
¹⁸ 
And roll you up tightly like a ball
And toss you into a vast country;
There you will die
And there your splendid chariots will be,
You shame of your master’s house.’
¹⁹ 
“I will depose you from your office,
And you will be pulled down from your position [of importance].
²⁰ 
“Then it will come to pass in that day
That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.
²¹ 
“And I will clothe him with your tunic [of distinction]
And tie your sash securely around him.
I will entrust him with your authority;
He will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
²² 
“Then I will set on his shoulder the key of the house of David;
When he opens no one will shut,
When he shuts no one will open.
²³ 
“I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,
And he will become a throne of honor and glory to his father’s house.