The Lord speaks against Jerusalem
1The Lord was angry. He talked against the Valley_of_Visions and He said:
‘Why did all your people climb
onto the roofs of their houses?
2You were a city
where people always made a noise.
Your people kept on talking and laughing.
Your people who are dead did not die in war.
3Your leaders have all fled.
They did not go to war,
but the enemies have caught them.
The enemies have caught all of your people
who fled to places far away.
4That is why I said:
“Do not look at me. I want to cry.
The enemies have done bad things to my people,
but do not try to comfort Me.” ’
5The Lord who rules over all made this happen.
The people in the city ran to this side
and then to that side,
because they did not know where they could go.
The enemies trampled everything
and they broke down the walls.
The people asked the Lord to help them.
The Lord lives in his temple
on the mountain in the Valley_of_Visions.
6The Elamite people came
with bows_and_arrows,
and with war-chariots and horses.
The people of the land of Kir
made their shields ready to go to war.
7There were war-chariots and horses
around the valleys in the land_of_Judah.
They came to the gates of the city
and they waited there.
8It was easy for the enemies to attack Judah.
On that day the people in Jerusalem
counted how many weapons were in
the Palace_of_the_Forest_of_Lebanon,
9and they saw how many holes
there were in the wall of Jerusalem,
the City of David.
10They counted the houses in Jerusalem
and they broke down some of the houses
to use the stones
to make the wall of the city stronger.
11They also made a channel
between the 2 walls of the city
and they let the water of the old dam
flow into this channel.
God makes things happen,
and He decided long ago
that things must be like this,
but they did not ask God to help them.
12The Lord who rules over all
wanted them to cry and mourn on that day.
He wanted them to shave off their hair
and beards and to put on sack-cloth.
13But they were happy and had a feast.
They killed cattle and sheep,
and they ate meat and drank wine.
They said: ‘Let's eat and drink
because tomorrow we will be dead.’
14The Lord who rules over all told me:
‘I will not forgive this sin
for as long as they live.’
Shebna and Eliakim
15The Lord who rules over all said: ‘You must go to Shebna. He is the most important_official in the palace of the king. You must ask him: 16“What are you doing here? Not one of your people has a grave here, but you are cutting a grave for yourself high in the rocks. You think you are very important, 17-18but everyone in the palace of your king is ashamed of what you are doing. The Lord will now throw you away, far away. He will grab you and roll you until you are as round as a ball. He will roll you away into a far land and there you will die. You are proud of your war-chariots, but the enemies will destroy them. 19The Lord will kick you out of your work, and He will chase you away.” ’
20The Lord also said: ‘On that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. 21I will take your robe and I will put it on him and I will tie a sash around his neck and I will give him your work to do. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. 22I will give him the keys of the palace of the king who is the descendant of King David. If he opens something, no one will be able to close it and if he closes something, no one will be able to open it. 23He will be like a peg that I have hit into the wall at the right place. His family will be proud of him. 24But his family will ask him to care for them all, for the children and adults. It will be like when someone hangs all the pots and pans on a stick. 25But then the stick breaks and everything that was hanging on it falls to the ground.’ This is what the Lord who rules over all said.
