Trouble in Vision Valley
1This is a message
about Vision Valley:
Why are you celebrating
on the flat roofs
of your houses?
2Your city is filled
with noisy shouts.
Those who lie drunk
in your streets
were not killed in battle.
3Your leaders ran away,
but they were captured
without a fight.
No matter how far they ran,
they were found and caught.
4Then I said, “Leave me alone!
Let me cry bitter tears.
My people have been destroyed,
so don't try to comfort me.”
5The LORD All-Powerful
had chosen a time
for noisy shouts and confusion
to fill Vision Valley,
and for everyone to beg
the mountains for help.
6The people of Elam and Kir
attacked with chariots
and carried shields.
7Your most beautiful valleys
were covered with chariots;
your cities were surrounded
by cavalry troops.
8Judah was left defenceless.
At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace. 9You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool. 10You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall. 11Then 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.
A time to weep
12When all this happened,
the LORD All-Powerful told you
to weep and mourn,
to shave your heads,
and wear sackcloth.
13But instead, you celebrated
by feasting on beef and lamb
and by drinking wine,
because you said,
“Let's eat and drink!
Tomorrow we may die.”
14The LORD All-Powerful
has spoken to me
this solemn promise:
“I won't forgive them for this,
not as long as they live.”
Selfish officials are doomed
15The LORD All-Powerful is sending you with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:
16Shebna, 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. 17You may be powerful, but the LORD is about to snatch you up and throw you away. 18He 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.
19The LORD is going to take away your job! 20-21He 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. 22The 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. 23The 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.
24His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall. 25That 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.
