Isaiah 22:16

Translations

Modern

What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?

Traditional

What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

Literal

What is unto you here, and who is unto you here, that have hewn out for yourself here a tomb, hewing out his tomb on high, carving a resting place in the rock for himself?

Latin

Quid tu hic, aut quasi quis hic? quia excidisti tibi hic sepulchrum, excidisti in excelso memoriale diligenter, in petra tabernaculum tibi.

Original

Hebrew

English

What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?

Notes

Isaiah 22:16

Shebna was building an impressive tomb for himself. It was meant to be a monument. This large and costly burial place was designed to last for many generations.

Isaiah 22:15–25

Shebna and Eliakim were two royal officials in King Hezekiah’s court (see 2 Kings 18:18; 19:2). Shebna believed the Assyrians would surely kill him. So he planned for a well-decorated burial place (Isaiah 22:16).

Although the rebuke of Shebna happened before Assyria’s siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC (see Isaiah 22:19–21; 36:3), it relates well to the warnings in 22:1–13 about the later Babylonian siege.

Isaiah 22:1–25

This message addresses the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC (see Isaiah 36–37; 2 Kings 18:17–19:37). It may also refer to the people's preparation for the later Babylonian siege from 588 to 586 BC.

Theme notes and profiles

Isaiah Messages Against the Nations Salvation in Isaiah

Events

Prophecies of Isaiahc. 759 BC

Related verses

Matthew 27:60
…and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
2 Samuel 18:18
During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.
2 Chronicles 16:14
And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.
Job 3:14
…with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,
Isaiah 14:18
All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
Micah 2:10
Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!
Isaiah 52:5
And now what have I here? declares the LORD. For My people have been taken without cause; those who rule them taunt, declares the LORD, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.

Glossary

Book of Jeremiah Isaiah, Book of Shebna Tomb

Topics

Ambition: Shebna Burial: Figurative Burial: Places Used for Caves Hewn out of Rocks Pride: General Scriptures Concerning Rocks: Tombs often Hewn out of Shebna (Shebnah): An official of the King

Isaiah 22:16

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Translations

Original

Notes

Events

Related verses

Glossary

Topics