Isaiah 17

1 This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.

The burden of Damascus: "Look, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.

Her cities will be abandoned forever. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,”

The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," says Jehovah of hosts.

4 “In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and the fat of his body will waste away,

"It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

5 as the reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the ears with his arm, as one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

6 Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten— two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,”

Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree," says Jehovah, the God of Israel.

7 In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

8 They will not look to the altars they have fashioned with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they have made with their fingers.

They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.

9 In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.

In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.

10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.

11 though on the day you plant you make them grow, and on that morning you help your seed sprout— yet the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.

In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.

Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters.

13 The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

14 In the evening, there is sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us and the lot of those who plunder us.

At evening, look, terror. Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.