The prophet laments the devastation of Juda. He foretells the deprivation of Sobna, and the substitution of Eliacim, a figure of Christ.

[1] The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops? [2] Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle. [3] All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off. [4] Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people. [5] For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.

[1] The valley of vision: Jerusalem. The temple of Jerusalem was built upon mount Moria, or the mountain of vision. But the city is here called the valley of vision; either because it was lower than the temple, or because of the low condition to which it was to be reduced.

[6] And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall. [7] And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horseman shall place themselves in the gate. [8] And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest. [9] And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool, [10] And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify the wall.

[11] And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago. [12] And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: [13] And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die. [14] And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts. [15] Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:

[16] What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock. [17] Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment. [18] He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord. [19] And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry. [20] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,

[21] And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda. [22] And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open. [23] And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father. [24] And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father' s house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music. [25] In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.