What is wrong with you people?
    Why are you on your roofs?^[b]
2 This city was a very busy city.
    It was full of noise and wild parties.
But your people have been killed,
    but not with swords.
    They did not die in battle.
³ All your leaders ran away together.
    But they all have been captured without using a bow.
All you who were captured
    tried to run away before the enemy came near.
⁴ So I say, “Don’t look at me.
    Let me cry loudly.
Don’t hurry to comfort me
    about the destruction of Jerusalem.”
⁵ The Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies, has chosen a special day.
    There will be riots and confusion.
    People will trample each other in the Valley of Vision.
The city walls will be knocked down.
    The people will cry out to the mountain.
⁶ The soldiers from Elam will take their bags of arrows.
    Men in chariots and on horses will attack.
    Kir will prepare their shields.
⁷ Your nicest valleys will be filled with chariots.
    Horsemen will be ordered to guard the gates of the city.
⁸     The walls protecting Judah will fall.

At that time the people of Jerusalem depended on
    the weapons kept at the Palace of the Forest.
⁹ You saw that the walls of Jerusalem
    had many cracks that needed repairing.
    You stored up water in the lower pool.
¹⁰ You counted the houses of Jerusalem.
    You tore them down to fix the walls with their stones.
¹¹ You made a pool between the two walls.
    It was to save water from the old pool.
But you did not trust the God who made these things.
    You did not respect the One who planned them long ago.

¹² The Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies, told the people
    to cry and be sad.
    He told them to shave their heads and wear rough cloth.
¹³ But look. The people are happy.
    There are wild parties.
They kill the cattle and the sheep.
    They eat the food and drink the wine.
They say, “Let us eat and drink,
    because tomorrow we will die.”

“Go to this servant Shebna.
    He is the manager of the palace.
¹⁶ Say to him, ‘What are you doing here?
    Who said you could cut out a tomb for yourself here?
Why are you preparing your tomb in a high place?
    Why are you carving out a tomb from the rock?
¹⁷ Look, mighty man! The Lord will throw you away.
    He will take firm hold of you.
¹⁸ He will roll you tightly into a ball
    and throw you into another country.
There you will die.
    Your fine chariots will remain there.
    You are a disgrace to your master’s house.
¹⁹ I will force you out of your important job here.
    You will be thrown down from your important place.’