Isaiah 22 · The Lantern

This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops,

O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

Now is the time to utter aloud those words of the prophet who said, "Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for the slain of the daughters of my people?" For, even if deep silence enfolds them and they lie dispossessed once and for all of their senses by the horrible deed (for by the deadly blow they have been deprived already of the…

(Version 2.) Full of cries, a bustling city, a rejoicing community. The city is filled with those crying out, the bustling city is rejoicing. The teaching of the heretics is not in meaning, but in many words and clamor. Therefore, because of the multitude of the deceived, the city is called bustling and rejoicing, because of their pride.

And the sin of strife: full of clamor, above: I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes (Isa 5:2).

All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.

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.”

Remember the compassion of God, how he heals with olive oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written, how he that falls rises again, and he that is turned away turns again, he that has been smitten is healed, he that is caught by wild beasts escapes, and he that confesses is not rejected.

(Verse 4.) Therefore I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people. LXX: Therefore I said: Let me alone, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Second, he sets out the inconsolable compassion of the prophet: depart, you who console the prophet, labor not, in the manner of those who console: who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes that I may weep for the slain of my people (Jer 9:1).

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.

Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.

Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.

He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.

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.

On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

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!”

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

Now we say that the wicked are dead, but not in an ascetic life opposed to sin; nor do they, like the saints, bear about dying in their bodies. But it is the soul which they bury in sins and follies, drawing near to the dead and satisfying it with dead nourishment.

Second, he sets out their contempt for this counsel: and behold joy, above: the harp, and the lyre are in your feasts (Isa 5:12). Third, the intention to hold it in contempt: let us eat and drink, 1 Corinthians 15:32, Wisdom 2:5: our time is as the passing of a shadow.

The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,” says the Lord GOD of Hosts.

This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:

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?

Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

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.

I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.

On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

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.

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.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; [Isaiah 22:22] I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not…

Second, as to the power which he had regarding the temple: and I will lay the key, which was of gold, of the house of David, that is, of the temple, for the building of which David prepared the materials, as is evident from 1 Chronicles 29, upon his shoulder, that is, his government, or because the key was used as a kind of adornment; he shall open, for it was allowed to him to…

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.

So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

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.

Isaiah22