Bible Text & Cross-references:
The prophet laments the destruction of Juda. He foretells
the deprivation of Sobna, and substitution of Eliacim, a figure of Christ.
1 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou
too art wholly gone up to the house tops?
2 Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not
slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.
3 All thy princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were
found, are bound together, they are fled far off.
4 Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour
not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.
5 For it is a day of slaughter, and of treading down, and of weeping
to the Lord, the God of hosts, in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.
6 And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield
was taken down from the wall.
7 And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen
shall place themselves in the gate.
8 And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in
that day the armoury of the house of the forest.
9 And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are
many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10 And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses
to fortify the wall.
11 *And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old
pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.
12 And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping,
and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
13 And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating
flesh, and drinking wine: *Let us eat, and drink; for to-morrow we shall die.
14 And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely
this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.
15 Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth
in the tabernacle, to Sobna, who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:
16 What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast
hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.
17 Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried
away, and he will lift thee up as a garment.
18 He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation; he will toss thee
like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame
of the house of thy Lord.
19 And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy
ministry.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant
Eliacim the son of Helcias.
21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with
thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the
house of Juda.
22 *And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and
he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23 And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for
a throne of glory to the house of his father.
24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house,
divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups, even to every instrument of music.
25 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that
was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because
the Lord hath spoken it.
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*
11: 4 Kings xx. 20.; 2 Paralipomenon xxxii. 30.
13: Wisdom ii. 6.; Isaias lvi. 12.; 1 Corinthians xv. 32.
22: Apocalypse iii. 7.; Job xii. 14.