Isaiah 17

1 The word about Damascus. See, they have made Damascus a town no longer; it has become a waste place.

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2 Her towns are unpeopled for ever; there the flocks take their rest in peace, without fear.

The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3 The strong tower has gone from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus: the rest of Aram will come to destruction, and be made like the glory of the children of Israel, says the Lord of armies.

And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus. And the remnant of Syria, they shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel, says Jehovah of hosts.

4 And it will be in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made small, and the strength of his body will become feeble.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall grow lean.

5 And it will be like a man cutting the growth of his grain, pulling together the heads of the grain with his arm; even as when they get in the grain in the valley of Rephaim.

And it shall be as when the harvestman gathers the standing grain, and his arm reaps the ears. Yea, it shall be as when he gleans ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6 But it will be like a man shaking an olive-tree, something will still be there, two or three berries on the top of the highest branch, four or five on the outside branches of a fertile tree, says the Lord, the God of Israel.

Yet there shall be gleanings left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree-two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, says Jehovah, the God of Israel.

7 In that day a man's heart will be turned to his Maker, and his eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

In that day men shall look to their maker, and their eyes shall have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

8 He will not be looking to the altars, the work of his hands, or to the wood pillars or to the sun-images which his fingers have made.

And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands, nor shall they have respect for that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images.

9 In that day your towns will be like the waste places of the Hivites and the Amorites which the children of Israel took for a heritage, and they will come to destruction.

In that day their strong cities shall be as the forsaken places in the woodland and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the sons of Israel, and it shall be a desolation.

10 For you have not given honour to the God of your salvation, and have not kept in mind the Rock of your strength; for this cause you made a garden of Adonis, and put in it the vine-cuttings of a strange god;

For thou have forgotten the God of thy salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore thou plant pleasant plants, and set it with foreign slips.

11 In the day of your planting you were watching its growth, and in the morning your seed was flowering: but its fruit is wasted away in the day of grief and bitter sorrow.

In the day of thy planting thou hedge it in, and in the morning thou make thy seed to blossom. But the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Ah! the voice of peoples, like the loud sounding of the seas, and the thundering of great nations rushing on like the bursting out of 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 But he will put a stop to them, and make them go in flight far away, driving them like the waste of the grain on the tops of the mountains before the wind, and like the circling dust before the storm.

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

14 In the evening there is fear, and in the morning they are gone. This is the fate of those who take our goods, and the reward of those who violently take our property for themselves.

At eventide, behold, terror, and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who rob us.