Verse

Isaiah 22:2

ESV you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.
NIV you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
NASB You who were full of noise, You tumultuous town, you jubilant city; Your dead were not killed with the sword, Nor did they die in battle.
CSB The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with celebration. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.
NLT The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed not in battle but by famine and disease.
KJV Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
NKJV You who are full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, Nor dead in battle.

What does Isaiah 22:2 mean?

The oracle against Jerusalem begins with a condemnation of the people for their celebrations (Isaiah 22:1). The tight-packed town is full of cheering and rejoicing. Why was this? Commentators suggest two different interpretations.

The first possibility relates to the events of 701 BC. At that time, the people of Jerusalem had just escaped a siege by the Assyrian king Sennacherib and his army. They went to bed sure they would not have long to live and woke up to find that 185,000 Assyrians were dead and the rest were fleeing (Isaiah 37:33–38).

If this moment is what Isaiah means, then he wants the people to recognize that this is not the time for partying. Many of their countrymen outside the walls of Jerusalem had been killed or captured by Sennacherib's army. We know from Sennacherib's annals that these people did not die in battle. The Assyrian king's records indicate that he laid "siege to forty-six fortified cities, walled forts, and countless villages." Despite surviving the siege of Jerusalem, Judah suffered a great deal at the hands of the Assyrians.

The other possible interpretation is that Isaiah is describing the eventual destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC, well after his lifetime. King Nebuchadnezzar also laid siege to the city, but he succeeded where Sennacherib was stopped by the Lord. Isaiah may be asking his fellow people why they are celebrating when the Lord has predicted the eventual downfall of Jerusalem. They should get ahold of themselves now because of the future terror that will fall on them when so many die in the siege and not in battle.
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