1 The oracle {massa: prophetic burden} concerning the valley of vision: What is wrong with you now that you have all gone up to the rooftops {gaggot: flat roof terraces}?
2 Full {meleah: abundantly filled} of shoutings, a noisy city, a joyous town; your slain {chalalayikh: those struck down} were not slain by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
3 All your commanders {ketzinayikh: military officers} have fled together; without a bow {mikheshet: no bow drawn} they were bound. All those found among you have been bound together; though they had fled far away, they were still captured.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me; I will bitterly weep {amarer: mourn deeply} in my tears. Do not hurry to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people {ammi: nation Israel}.”
5 For it is a day of tumult and trampling and perplexity to the Lord GOD of hosts {Adonai YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Judge}, in the valley of vision {khizayon: prophetic revelation}; breaking down the wall and crying out to the mountain.
6 And Elam carried the quiver on chariots {berekhev: war vehicles} of men and horsemen {parashim: mounted troops}, and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 And it came to pass that your choicest valleys were filled with chariots, and the horsemen {parashim: mounted warriors} took their positions at the gate {sha'ar: decision point}.
8 And He {YHWH, Sovereign Revealer} uncovered the covering {masakh: protective barrier} of Judah, and you looked on that day toward the weaponry in the House of the Forest.
9 And you saw the breaches of the city of David {dawid: Royal Founder}, that they were many, and you gathered the waters of the lower pool {bereikha: Man-made Reservoir}.
10 And you tallied the houses {battei: city homes} of Jerusalem, and you pulled down the houses to fortify the wall {chomah: outer rampart}.
11 And you made a reservoir between the two walls for the waters of the old pool, but you did not look to Him {YHWH, Sovereign Creator} who made {osehah: its Maker} it, nor did you see Him who formed {veyotzrah: its Designer} it long ago.
12 And the Lord GOD of hosts {Adonai YHWH Tsevaot, Supreme Authority and Commander} called on that day for weeping, for mourning, for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth {sak: coarse garment worn in distress}.
13 And behold, joy {sason: exuberant celebration} and gladness—killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating meat {basar: animal flesh for food} and drinking wine—“Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
14 And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Commander}, “Surely this iniquity {avon: moral guilt} will not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts {Adonai YHWH Tsevaot, Sovereign Judge}.
15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts {Adonai YHWH Tsevaot, Supreme Commander}: Go, come to this steward {soken: chief official}, to Shebna who is over the house.
16 “What are you doing here, and who is here for you, that you have hewn {chatzavta: to cut by carving} for yourself a sepulchre {kever: burial chamber} here, as one who hews on high his own tomb and engraves for himself a dwelling in the rock?”
17 Behold, the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Shaker} is about to hurl you away with a violent hurling {talteleh: intensive motion}, O mighty man, and He will seize you in a firm grip.
18 Surely He {YHWH, Judgment Executor} will utterly wind you up, wrapping you like a ball and hurling you into a land of broad expanses; there you shall die, and there your glorious chariots will become the disgrace {kelon: public disgrace} of your lord’s house.
19 And I will thrust you away from your station {matsav: official position}, and you will be pulled down from your standing {maamad: social status}.
20 And it will come to pass in that day that I {YHWH, Divine Summoner} will call my servant Eliakim {elyaqim: God-will-establish}, the son of Hilkiah.
21 And I {YHWH, Divine Kingmaker} will clothe him with your tunic {kutonet: official garment}, and I will bind your sash on him, and I will place your authority into his hand, and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22 And I {YHWH, Authority Bestower} will place the key of the house of David {beit-David: royal lineage} upon his shoulder; when he opens, no one can close; when he closes, no one can reopen.
23 And I {YHWH, Sovereign Establishment} will fasten him like a peg in a firm place, and he will become a throne of glory {kavod: weighty honor} for the house of his father.
24 And they will hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house {beit-aviv: paternal domain}, the offspring and the offshoots, all the small vessels, from the vessels of basins up to all the vessels of flagons {nevalim: drinking vessels}.
25 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tzevaot: Commander of Armies}, the peg {yated: securing fixture} that was fastened in a firm place shall be removed; it shall be chopped off and drop, and the burden that was on it shall be cut away, for the LORD has spoken.