Isaiah 17
1 This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.
[I received] this message [from Yahweh] about Damascus [the capital of Syria]: “Listen carefully! Damascus will no longer be a city; it will be [only] 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 towns near Aroer [city] will be abandoned. Flocks [of sheep] will [eat grass in the streets and] lie down there, and there will be no one to chase them away.
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 cities in Israel will not have walls around them [to protect them]. The power of the kingdom of Damascus will be ended, and the few people who will remain in Damascus will be disgraced like the people in Israel were disgraced.” [That is what] the Commander of the armies of angels says.
4 “In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and the fat of his body will waste away,
“At that time, Israel will become insignificant. It will be [like] [MET] a fat person who has become very thin.
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.
The entire land will be like [SIM] a field where the harvesters have cut all the grain; there will be nothing left, like [SIM] the fields in the Rephaim Valley after all the crops have been harvested.
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,”
Only a few of the Israeli people will remain [MET], like [SIM] the few olives that remain on the top of a tree after the workers have caused all the other olives to fall [to the ground]. [There will be only] two or three olives in the top branches, [or] four or five olives on the other branches.” [That is what] the Commander of the armies of angels says.
7 In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
[Then], at that time, [you] people [of Israel] will (turn for help to/look up to) God, your creator, 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.
You will no [longer] seek to get help from your idols or worship the idols that you have made with your own hands [DOU]. You will never again bow down in front of the poles [where you worship the goddess] Asherah. You will never again worship at the shrines [that you have built for burning incense].
9 In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.
The largest cities in Israel will be abandoned, like the land that the Hiv and Amor people-groups abandoned (OR, like the forests that the [Canaan people-group] abandoned) when the Israelis [attacked them long ago]. No one will live there.
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—
[That will happen] because you have stopped worshiping God who is [like] [MET] a huge rock under which you can be safe. You have forgotten that he is the one who can hide/protect you. So, [now] you plant very nice grapevines and [even] plant very expensive ones that come from other countries.
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.
[But] even if they sprout leaves on the day that you plant them, and even if they produce blossoms on that same morning, at harvest time, there will not be any grapes for you to pick. All that you will get is a lot of agony/misery.
12 Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
Listen! [The armies of] many nations will roar like the sea roars. It will sound like the noise of crashing waves.
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.
But even though their loud roaring will be like the sound of crashing waves, when Yahweh rebukes them, they will run far away. They will flee like [SIM] chaff on the hills scatters when the wind [blows], like tumbleweeds scatter when a windstorm blows.
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.
And, even though you people of Israel will be terrified, in the morning [your enemies] will all be gone/dead. That is what will happen to those who invade our land and [then] steal our possessions.
