1 What aileth thee, then, that thou art gone up, all of thee, to the house tops?
2 She is filled with tumult, an uproarious city, a jubilant town; thy smitten ones are not smitten with the sword, nor dead in battle.
3 All thy rulers are fled together; without the bow they are made captive; all that are found of thee are made captive, they fled afar off
4 Therefore I said, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; press not to comfort me, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
5 For the Lord God of Hosts hath a day of discomfiture, and treading down, and perplexity, in the valley of vision; digging down the wall, and a cry (goeth) to the mountain.
6 And Elam bare a quiver, with troops of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 And it cometh to pass, thy choice valleys are full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8 And he removed the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.
9 And ye saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool
10 And ye numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses did ye break down to fortify the wall.
11 And ye made a lake between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye looked not unto him that made it, neither had respect unto him that formed it long ago.
12 And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: (Let us) eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.
14 And the Lord of Hosts revealed himself in mine ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated for you till ye die, saith the Lord God of Hosts.
15 Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, Go, get thee unto this steward, unto Shebna which is over the house;
16 What hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here? Hewing him out his sepulchre on high, graving a habitation in the rock for him !
17 Behold, the Lord will hurl thee with the hurling of a mighty man, and seize thee with a seizing.
18 He will roll thee, rolling up into a roll, like a ball into a far country; there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be: thou shame of thy lord’s house.
19 And I will thrust thee from thy station, and from thine office shall he pull thee down.
20 And it shall be in that day, I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah;