Isaiah 17
1 This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.
The prophecy concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus shall be no more a city; It shall become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.
The cities of Aroer shall be forsaken; They shall be pastures 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 rest of Syria; It shall be with them as with the glory of the children of Israel, Saith Jehovah of hosts.
4 “In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and the fat of his body will waste away,
In that day shall the glory of Jacob sink away, And the fatness of his flesh become leanness.
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.
And it shall be as when the harvest-man gathereth the corn, And reapeth the ears with his arm; Yea, as when one gleaneth ears 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,”
There shall be left in it only a gleaning, as in the olive-harvest, Two or three berries on the top of the highest bough, Four or five on the fruitful branches, Saith 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 shall a man have regard to his Maker, And his eyes shall look to 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.
He shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, Nor have respect to that which his fingers have made, The images of Astarte and the Sun-pillars.
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 shall his fortified cities be like ruins in the forests, or on the mountain tops, Which the enemy left, in flight from the children of Israel; And the land shall 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 thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, And hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; Therefore though thou plant beautiful plants, And set shoots from a foreign soil,
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.
When thou hast planted them, though thou hedge them in, And in the morning bring thy plants to the blossom, Yet shall the harvest flee away, In the day of pain and 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.
Alas! a tumult of many nations! They rage with the raging of the sea. Alas! a roaring of kingdoms! They roar with the roaring 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.
Like the roaring of mighty waters do the nations roar; He rebuketh them, and they flee away, Driven like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like stubble before the whirlwind.
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 the time of evening, behold, terror! Before morning, behold, they are no more! This is the portion of them that spoil us, And the lot of them that plunder us.
