Isaiah 22:1-4

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?

22:2 The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;

the town is filled with revelry. ³ 

Your slain were not cut down by the sword;

they did not die in battle. ⁴ 

22:3 ⁵ All your leaders ran away together –

they fled to a distant place;

all your refugees ⁶  were captured together –

they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ⁷ 

22:4 So I say:

“Don’t look at me! ⁸ 

I am weeping bitterly.

Don’t try ⁹  to console me

concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ¹⁰ 

[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?”

[22:2]  ³ tn Heb “the boisterous town.” The phrase is parallel to “the noisy city” in the preceding line.

[22:2]  ⁴ sn Apparently they died from starvation during the siege that preceded the final conquest of the city. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:409.

[22:3]  ⁵ tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away, apart from a bow they were captured, all your found ones were captured together, to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the translation above arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).

[22:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (’ammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (ne’ematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).

[22:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”

[22:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).

[22:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.