1. This is a messageabout Vision Valley:Why are you celebratingon the flat roofsof your houses?
2. Your city is filledwith noisy shouts.Those who lie drunkin your streetswere not killed in battle.
3. Your leaders ran away,but they were capturedwithout a fight.No matter how far they ran,they were found and caught.
4. Then I said, “Leave me alone!Let me cry bitter tears.My people have been destroyed,so don't try to comfort me.”
5. The Lord All-Powerfulhad chosen a timefor noisy shouts and confusionto fill Vision Valley,and for everyone to begthe mountains for help.
6. The people of Elam and Kirattacked with chariotsand carried shields.
7. Your most beautiful valleyswere covered with chariots;your cities were surroundedby cavalry troops.
8. Judah was left defenceless.At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace.
9. You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool.
10. You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall.
11. Then you built a large tank between the walls to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.
12. When all this happened,the Lord All-Powerful told youto weep and mourn,to shave your heads,and wear sackcloth.
13. But instead, you celebratedby feasting on beef and lamband by drinking wine,because you said,“Let's eat and drink!Tomorrow we may die.”
14. The Lord All-Powerfulhas spoken to methis solemn promise:“I won't forgive them for this,not as long as they live.”
15. The Lord All-Powerful is sending you with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:
16. Shebna, what gives you the right to have a tomb carved out of rock in this burial place of royalty? None of your relatives are buried here.
17. You may be powerful, but the Lord is about to snatch you up and throw you away.
18. He will roll you into a ball and throw you into a wide open country, where you will die and your chariots will be destroyed. You're a disgrace to those you serve.
19. The Lord is going to take away your job!
20-21. He will give your official robes and your authority to his servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the royal family of Judah.
22. The Lord will put him in charge of the key that belongs to King David's family. No one will be able to unlock what he locks, and no one will be able to lock what he unlocks.
23. The Lord will make him as firm in his position as a tent peg hammered in the ground, and Eliakim will bring honour to his family.
24. His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall.
25. That peg is fastened firmly now, but some day it will be shaken loose and fall down. Then everything that was hanging on it will be destroyed. This is what the Lord All-Powerful has promised.