Isaiah 22:3-17

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. 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.” 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. Elam took up the quiver With the chariots, infantry and horsemen; And Kir uncovered the shield. 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]. [2 Chr 32; Is 36] 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). [1 Kin 7:2; 10:17, 21] 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). Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem And you tore down the houses [to get materials] to fortify the city wall [by extending it]. You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the Old Pool, But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you recognize Him who planned it long ago. ¶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]. 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.” 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. ¶For the Lord GOD of hosts says this, “Go to this [contemptible] steward, To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [but is building himself a tomb worthy of a king, and say to him], ‘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? ‘Listen carefully, the LORD is about to hurl you away violently, O man; And He is about to grasp you firmly