Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22
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The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
Book	Book of Isaiah
Category	Nevi'im
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	23

Isaiah 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is a part of the Book of the Prophets. This chapter contains a prophecy against "untimely rejoicing in Jerusalem" and "a threefold prediction of Shebna's fall, of Eliakim's elevation, and of Eliakim's fall".

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual versions

Some ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)
  • 1QIsa^a: complete
  • 1QIsa^b: extant: verses 9, 11‑18, 20, 24‑25
  • 4QIsa^a (4Q55): extant: verses 13‑25
  • 4QIsa^b (4Q56): extant: verses 24‑25
  • 4QIsa^c (4Q57): extant: verses 10‑14
  • 4QIsa^f (4Q60): extant: verses 15‑22, 25

There is also a translation into Greek known as the Septuagint (with a different chapter and verse numbering), made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\mathfrak {G}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\mathfrak {G}}$^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\mathfrak {G}}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\mathfrak {G}}$^Q; 6th century).

Structure

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges refers to verses 1-14 as "the inexpiable sin of Jerusalem". Isaiah alleges that they have sinned "beyond the possibility of pardon".

Valley of Vision

Also referred to as the Valley of Hinnom, from which the name Gehenna is derived.

Verse 8

He removed the protection of Judah.

You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest;

"The House of the Forest of Lebanon" was the name for one of the buildings established by King Solomon in Jerusalem, within his palace complex (1 Kings 7:2–5), which used a great amount of cedar wood from Lebanon for the "pillars, beams, and roofing material", thus looking like a "forest".

He built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was 100 cubits and its width 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars.

Once it stored the royal armour in form of "300 shields of gold and vessels of gold" (1 Kings 10:17–21; 2 Chronicles 9:16).

Judgments against Shebna

That steward there ...

This expression points contemptuously to the position of the minister of the court. The Jerusalem Bible distinguishes two separate oracles against Shebna: verses 15-18 and, later, verses 19-23.

Verse 25

Eliakim, "the peg driven into a firm place", will also be removed from office in due course.

See also

• Elam
• Eliakim son of Hilkiah
• Babylon
• Judah
• Kir
• Shebna
• Shebna inscription
• Related Bible parts: 1 Kings 7, 2 Kings 16, 2 Kings 18, 2 Kings 19, Isaiah 36, Isaiah 37, Revelation 3

Bibliography

• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

External links

Jewish

• Isaiah 22 Original Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

• Isaiah 22 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Forest". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.