1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2 you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, exultant town?
Your slain are not slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away. – God revealed visions to the prophets in Jerusalem. This pictures the masses of the city racing to the roof tops to see more than they could in the narrow winding streets. Their soldiers have not been slain fighting but running away!
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.” – Jeremiah is called ‘the weeping prophet’, but Isaiah is so distressed that he weeps bitterly.
5 For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And Elam (part of Persia/Iran – the aggressor) bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir (A group of people subject to Persia also prepared for their attack on the Jews) uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. – Hoards of chariots and cavalry surround the city
8 He has taken away the covering of Judah. – Judah is conquered as if their clothes are stripped off leaving them totally exposed!
In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago. – They sought weapons where they were stored in a place made of Lebanese hard wood; They stopped the water flowing out and stored it inside so that the enemy would thirst; they fortified the inner city by breaking down certain walls but to no use! They had not returned to nor sought God who had long ago planned that unfaithfulness to Him had dire consequences! Although written in the past and present tenses it is in fact a prophecy for the future!
1 Sam 12: 15 – But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you and your king.
Prayer: Please Lord keep me aware of Your full-orbed character, and living, by Your Grace, in tune with You!
As I read it! 