Judah’s unpardonable sin

22 Oracle on the Valley of Vision

What mean you that you are gone up,

one and all, to the house-tops,

2 O town filled with uproar and tumult,

O city exultant?

your slain are not slain with sword,

neither fallen in battle.

3 Your chieftains are all fled together

who wielded the bow,

and your strong men are all taken prisoners,

though far they had fled.

4 ‘Turn away from me,’ therefore I say,

‘Bitter tears would I shed.

Urge not upon me your comfort,

my people are ruined.’

5 For a day of confusion and trampling and tumult,

does come from the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.

They tear down the wall in the Valley of Hanno,

the war-cry ascends to the mountains.

6 Elam seized the quiver,

and Aram came riding on horses.

Kir uncovered the shield,

7 your choicest of valleys was crowded

with chariots and horsemen,

arrayed for assault on the gate.

8 Then you looked to the arms in the House of the

Forest,

9 you had eyes for the gaps in the Fortress of

David;

11 but you looked not to him who was doing all this,

you had no eyes for him who had planned it of old.

12 So the Lord, God of Hosts, has called you

to weeping and mourning, to baldness and sackcloth.

13 But see! There is nothing but mirth and rejoicing,

slaying of oxen and killing of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine –

eating and drinking, ‘because’ (as you say)

‘we may haply be dead men tomorrow.’

14 The Lord of Hosts has declared in my ear,

‘This sin will assuredly never be purged

till you die’ – says the Lord, God of Hosts.