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Isaiah 22:12
ESV In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
NIV The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
NASB Therefore on that day the Lord God of armies called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
CSB On that day the Lord God of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.
NLT At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
KJV And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
NKJV And in that day the Lord God of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.

What does Isaiah 22:12 mean?

What do you do when the enemy horde is at your doorstep? Isaiah has described the arrival of the Assyrians or Babylonians coming to destroy Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:5). The valleys are full of their chariots. The enemy horsemen are right outside the gates (Isaiah 22:6–7). By every human measure, the people inside the gates would assume that the situation was dire. They could not defeat the overwhelming force just on the other side of the wall.

The Lord God of hosts knew what His people should do in that moment: They should repent and ask Him for help. His people should express their fear to Him in sorrow and trembling. They should demonstrate their mourning and sadness to each other by shaving their heads, or tearing their hair out, and by wearing sackcloth. This was an understood cultural display of extreme grief at this point in history.

In short, the Lord wanted His people to take advantage of this moment when all other hope was lost to put their full hope in Him. He wanted His people to finally rely on Him. Instead, they relied on themselves by shoring up the city's defenses as best they could and then partied like there would be no tomorrow (Isaiah 22:13).
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