Isa 22:1
22:1 The burden of the {a} valley of vision. What {b} aileth
     thee now, that thou hast wholly gone up to the housetops?

     (a) Meaning, Judea, which was compassed about with
         mountains, and was called the valley of visions,
         because of the prophets, who were always there, whom
         they named Seers.
     (b) He speaks to Jerusalem, whose inhabitants fled up to
         the housetops for fear of their enemies.

Isa 22:2
22:2 Thou that art full of {c} shoutings, a tumultuous city, a
     joyous city: thy slain [men are] not slain {d} with the
     sword, nor dead in battle.

     (c) Which was wont to be full of people and joy.
     (d) But for hunger.

Isa 22:3
22:3 All thy rulers have fled together, they are {e} bound by
     the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together,
     [who] have fled from {f} far.

     (e) And led into captivity.
     (f) Who have fled from other places to Jerusalem for
         comfort.

Isa 22:4
22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep {g}
     bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the
     plundering of the daughter of my people.

     (g) He shows what is the duty of the godly, when God's
         plagues hang over the Church, and especially of the
         ministers, Jer 9:1.

Isa 22:5
22:5 For [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of
     perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of
     vision, breaking down the walls, and of {h} crying to the
     mountains.

     (h) That is, the shout of the enemies whom God had
         appointed to destroy the city.

Isa 22:6
22:6 And Elam {i} bore the quiver with chariots of men [and]
     horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

     (i) He reminds them how God delivered them once from
         Sennacherib, who brought the Persians and Syrians with
         him, that they might by returning to God avoid that
         great plague which they would suffer by Nebuchadnezzar.

Isa 22:8
22:8 And he uncovered the {k} coverings of Judah, and thou didst
     look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

     (k) The secret place where the armour was: that is, in the
         house of the forest, 1Ki 7:2.

Isa 22:9
22:9 Ye have seen also {l} the breaches of the city of David,
     that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of
     the lower pool.

     (l) You forfeited the ruinous places which were neglected
         in times of peace: meaning, the whole City, and the
         City of David, which was within the compass of the
         other.

Isa 22:10
22:10 And ye have numbered the houses {m} of Jerusalem, and the
      houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

      (m) Either to pull down such as might hurt, or else to
          know what men they were able to make.

Isa 22:11
22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the {n}
      water of the old pool: but ye have not looked to {o} its
      maker, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long
      ago.

      (n) To provide if need should be of water.
      (o) To God who made Jerusalem: that is, they trusted more
          in these worldly means than in God.

Isa 22:13
22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing
      sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us {p} eat and
      drink; for to morrow we shall die.

      (p) Instead of repentance you were joyful and made great
          cheer, contemning the admonitions of the prophets
          saying Let us eat and drink for our prophets say that
          we will die tomorrow.

Isa 22:15
22:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, repair to this {q}
      treasurer, [even] to Shebna, who [is] over the house, [and
      say],

      (q) Because the Hebrew word also signifies one who
          nourishes and cherishes, there are those of the
          scholars who think that this wicked man nourished a
          secret friendship with the Assyrians and Egyptians to
          betray the Church and to provide for himself against
          all dangers: in the mean season he packed craftily,
          and got of the best offices into his hand under
          Hezekiah, ever aspiring to the highest.

Isa 22:16
22:16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou
      hast hewed thee out a sepulchre {r} here, [as] he that
      heweth him out a sepulchre on high, [and] that cut out an
      habitation {s} for himself in a rock?

      (r) Meaning, that he was a stranger, and came up of
          nothing.
      (s) While he thought to make his name immortal by his
          famous sepulchre, he died most miserably among the
          Assyrians.

Isa 22:18
22:18 With violence he will surely turn and toss thee [like] a
      ball into a wide country: there shalt thou die, and there
      the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the {t} shame of thy
      lord's house.

      (t) Signifying that whatever dignity the wicked attain to,
          at length it will turn to the shame of those princes
          by whom they are preferred.

Isa 22:20
22:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will {u}
      call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

      (u) To be steward again, out of which office he had been
          put, by the craft of Shebna.

Isa 22:22
22:22 And the {x} key of the house of David will I lay upon his
      shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he
      shall shut, and none shall open.

      (x) I will commit to him the full charge and government of
          the king's house.

Isa 22:23
22:23 And I will fasten him [as] a {y} nail in a sure place; and
      he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

      (y) I will establish him, and confirm him in his office,
          of this phrase read Ezr 9:9.

Isa 22:24
22:24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's
      house, the offspring and the issue, {z} all vessels of
      small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the
      vessels of flagons.

      (z) Meaning that both small and great who will come from
          Eliakim, will have praise and glory by his faithful
          officer.

Isa 22:25
22:25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the {a} nail
      that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut
      down, and fall; and the burden that [was] upon it shall be
      cut off: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

      (a) He means Shebna, who in man's judgment should never
          have fallen.