Isaiah 22:12
And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
Study Note
Study Note
'In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth' — the divine call to lamentation is met in Isaiah 22:13 with the people's defiant rejoicing ('eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'), making this verse the hinge of a sharp ironic reversal. The setting is the 'valley of vision' — Jerusalem — facing the Assyrian threat, where instead of repentance the leaders are reveling, unburying armories and fortifying walls in reliance on human preparation. The standard ancient Near Eastern mourning rites invoked here — shaving, sackcloth, weeping — signal the appropriate response to a moment of divine judgment, precisely what Israel withholds. The irony echoes Amos 5:21–24's critique of cultic celebration in the absence of justice and anticipates the 'woe' oracles of Isaiah 5 against those who make revelry the response to crisis.
Other Translations
And in that day did the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
And call doth the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In that day, to weeping and to lamentation, And to baldness and to girding on of sackcloth,
And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief:
Cross References
He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and …
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth …
And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my …
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that …
Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers …
Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare …
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, …
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.