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  2. Sun: Genesis 34-37
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Tuesday · Week 8
The Early Prophets

Isaiah 20-22

Week 8 · about 9 min
  1. Wed: Judges 9-11
  2. Thu: 1 Corinthians 5-7
  3. Fri: Ezekiel 17-18

Isaiah acts out a warning about Egypt, announces Babylon’s fall, and rebukes Jerusalem for how it handles a crisis.

A Party When They Should Have Prayed

And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

Isaiah 22:13 (KJV)

Isaiah walks around barefoot and stripped for three years to warn Judah not to trust Egypt. In chapter 21 someone calls out, “Watchman, what of the night?” Then in chapter 22 Jerusalem faces an attack. The people count houses, tear some down to patch the walls, and build a reservoir, “but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof.” God calls them to weep, and they throw a party instead. A royal official named Shebna is busy carving a fancy tomb for himself, and God replaces him with Eliakim, who receives “the key of the house of David.” Revelation 3 picks up that image of the key.

Reflect: When trouble comes, do you check the walls before you call on God?

Isaiah 20

1In the year of the coming in of Tartan to Ashdod, when Sargon king of Asshur sendeth him, and he fighteth against Ashdod, and captureth it,

2at that time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, ‘Go, and thou hast loosed the sackcloth from off thy loins, and thy sandal thou dost draw from off thy foot,' and he doth so, going naked and barefoot.

3And Jehovah saith, ‘As My servant Isaiah hath gone naked and barefoot three years, a sign and a wonder for Egypt and for Cush,

4so doth the king of Asshur lead the captivity of Egypt, and the removal of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with seat uncovered -- the nakedness of Egypt;

5and they have been affrighted and ashamed of Cush their confidence, and of Egypt their beauty,

6and the inhabitant of this isle hath said in that day -- Lo, thus is our trust, Whither we have fled for help, To be delivered from the king of Asshur, And how do we escape -- we?'

Isaiah 21

1The burden of the wilderness of the sea. ‘Like hurricanes in the south for passing through, From the wilderness it hath come, From a fearful land.

2A hard vision hath been declared to me, The treacherous dealer is dealing treacherously, And the destroyer is destroying. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Media, All its sighing I have caused to cease.

3Therefore filled have been my loins with great pain, Pangs have seized me as pangs of a travailing woman, I have been bent down by hearing, I have been troubled by seeing.

4Wandered hath my heart, trembling hath terrified me, The twilight of my desire He hath made a fear to me,

5Arrange the table, watch in the watch-tower, Eat, drink, rise, ye heads, anoint the shield,

6For thus said the Lord unto me: ‘Go, station the watchman, That which he seeth let him declare.'

7And he hath seen a chariot -- a couple of horsemen, The rider of an ass, the rider of a camel, And he hath given attention -- He hath increased attention!

8And he crieth -- a lion, ‘On a watch-tower my lord, I am standing continually by day, And on my ward I am stationed whole nights.

9And lo, this, the chariot of a man is coming, A couple of horsemen.' And he answereth and saith: ‘Fallen, fallen hath Babylon, And all the graven images of her gods He hath broken to the earth.

10O my threshing, and the son of my floor, That which I heard from Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, I have declared to you!'

11The burden of Dumah. Unto me is one calling from Seir ‘Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?'

12The watchman hath said, ‘Come hath morning, and also night, If ye inquire, inquire ye, turn back, come.'

13The burden on Arabia. In a forest in Arabia ye lodge, O travellers of Dedanim.

14To meet the thirsty brought water have Inhabitants of the land of Tema, With his bread they came before a fugitive.

15For from the face of destructions they fled, From the face of a stretched-out sword, And from the face of a trodden bow, And from the face of the grievousness of battle.

16For thus said the Lord unto me: ‘Within a year, as years of a hireling, Consumed hath been all the honour of Kedar.

17And the remnant of the number of bow-men, The mighty of the sons of Kedar are few, For Jehovah, God of Israel, hath spoken!'

Isaiah 22

1The burden of the Valley of Vision. What -- to thee, now, that thou hast gone up, All of thee -- to the roofs?

2Full of stirs -- a noisy city -- an exulting city, Thy pierced are not pierced of the sword, Nor dead in battle.

3All thy rulers fled together from the bow, Bound have been all found of thee, They have been kept bound together, Afar off they have fled.

4Therefore I said, ‘Look ye from me, I am bitter in my weeping, Haste not to comfort me, For the destruction of the daughter of my people.'

5For a day of noise, and of treading down, And of perplexity, is to the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In the valley of vision, digging down a wall, And crying unto the mountain.

6And Elam hath borne a quiver, In a chariot of men -- horsemen, And Kir hath exposed a shield.

7And it cometh to pass, The choice of thy valleys have been full of chariots, And the horsemen place themselves diligently at the gate.

8And one removeth the covering of Judah, And thou lookest in that day Unto the armour of the house of the forest,

9And the breaches of the city of David ye have seen, For they have become many, And ye gather the waters of the lower pool,

10And the houses of Jerusalem ye did number, And ye break down the houses to fence the wall.

11And a ditch ye made between the two walls, For the waters of the old pool, And ye have not looked unto its Maker, And its Framer of old ye have not seen.

12And call doth the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In that day, to weeping and to lamentation, And to baldness and to girding on of sackcloth,

13And lo, joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, And slaughtering of sheep, Eating of flesh, and drinking of wine, Eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

14And revealed it hath been in mine ears, By Jehovah of Hosts: Not pardoned is this iniquity to you, Till ye die, said the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts.

15Thus said the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts: ‘Go, enter in unto this steward, Unto Shebna, who is over the house:

16What -- to thee here? And who -- to thee here? That thou hast hewn out to thee here -- a sepulchre? Hewing on high his sepulchre, Graving in a rock a dwelling for himself.

17Lo, Jehovah is casting thee up and down, A casting up and down, O mighty one,

18And thy coverer covering, wrapping round, Wrappeth thee round, O babbler, On a land broad of sides -- there thou diest, And there the chariots of thine honour Are the shame of the house of thy lord.

19And I have thrust thee from thy station, And from thine office he throweth thee down.

20And it hath come to pass, in that day, That I have called to my servant, To Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21And I have clothed him with thy coat, And with thy girdle I strengthen him, And thy garment I give into his hand, And he hath been for a father to the inhabitant of Jerusalem, And to the house of Judah.

22And I have placed the key Of the house of David on his shoulder, And he hath opened, and none is shutting, And hath shut, and none is opening.

23And I have fixed him a nail in a stedfast place, And he hath been for a throne of honour To the house of his father.

24And they have hanged on him All the honour of the house of his father, The offspring and the issue, All vessels of small quality, From vessels of basins to all vessels of flagons.

25In that day -- an affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, Moved is the nail that is fixed In a stedfast place, Yea, it hath been cut down, and hath fallen, And cut off hath been the burden that is on it, For Jehovah hath spoken!'

Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Public domain.