Isaiah 22:1

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: ¹ 

What is the reason ² 

that all of you go up to the rooftops?

Isaiah 40:4

40:4 Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Isaiah 22:5

22:5 For the sovereign master, ³  the Lord who commands armies,

has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. ⁴ 

In the Valley of Vision ⁵  people shout ⁶ 

and cry out to the hill. ⁷ 

Isaiah 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ⁸ 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ⁹ 

situated ¹⁰  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 28:4

28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,

situated at the head of a rich valley,

will be like an early fig before harvest –

as soon as someone notices it,

he grabs it and swallows it. ¹² 

[22:1]  ¹ sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “What to you, then?”

[22:5]  ³ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[22:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[22:5]  ⁵ tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.

[22:5]  ⁶ tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.

[22:5]  ⁷ sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.

[28:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.

[28:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “which the one seeing sees, while still it is in his hand he swallows it.”