1. The oracle of the Valley of Vision. What ails you now,that you all have gone up to the housetops,
2. you who were full of noise,a tumultuous city, a joyous city?Your slain are not slain with the sword,nor did they die in battle.
3. All your rulers have fled together;they are captured by the archers.All of you who were found were taken captive together,although they had fled from afar.
4. Therefore, I say, “Look away from me,I will weep bitterly;do not try to comfort mebecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5. For it is a day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexityby the Lord God of Hostsin the Valley of Vision,a breaking down of the wallsand a crying to the mountains.
6. Elam took up the quiverwith chariots of men and horsemen,and Kir uncovered the shield.
7. Your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots,and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
8. And He shall remove the protection of Judah.You shall depend in that dayon the weapons of the house of the forest;
9. you have seen also that the breachesof the City of David are many;and you gathered together the watersof the lower pool.
10. You have numbered the houses of Jerusalem,and the houses you have broken down to fortify the wall.
11. You also made a reservoir between the two wallsfor the water of the old pool.But you have not looked to its Maker,nor did you respect Him who fashioned it long ago.
12. In that day the Lord God of Hostscalled you to weeping and mourning,and to tear your hair and wear sackcloth.
13. Yet, there is joy and gladness,slaying of oxen and killing of sheep,eating of meat and drinking wine:“Let us eat and drink,for tomorrow we may die.”
14. It was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of Hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord God of Hosts.
15. Thus says the Lord God of Hosts: Come, go to this treasurer,even to Shebna, who is over the royal household, and say:
16. What right do you have here? And whom do you have herethat you have dug out for yourself a tomb here,as he who hews out for himself a tomb on high,and who cuts a habitation for himself in a rock?