Isaiah 17

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

The doom of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is deprived of being a city, and it shall become decaying ruins.

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

Forsaken are the cities of 'Aro'er: they shall be [given up] to 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 there shall cease the fortress from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: like the glory of the children of Israel shall they be, saith the Lord 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 on that day, that the glory of Jacob shall vanish, and the fatness of his flesh shall become 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 gathereth the standing-corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as when one gleaneth 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.

And there shall be left on it gleaning-fruit, as one shaketh an olive-tree, two or three berries on the top of the uppermost bough, four or five on the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith the Lord 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.

On that day shall a man turn his regard up to his Maker, and his eyes shall look toward 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 he shall not turn his regard to the altars, the work of his hands; and he shall not look at what his fingers have made, both the groves and 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.

On that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken ruin in a forest, and on a mountain-peak, which they left because of the children of Israel: and the land shall be desolate.

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;

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and the rock of thy strength thou hast not remembered; therefore wouldst thou plant luxuriant plantings, and wouldst set out the shoots of the stranger therein.

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.

[Already] on the day that thou plantedst thou causedst to grow, and in the morning thou madest thy seed to blossom; but now fleeth the harvest on the day of disease and of incurable pain.

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!

Woe to the raging of many people, who rage like the raging of the seas; and to the noise of nations, that make a noise like the roar 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 will make a noise like the roaring of many waters; but He will rebuke it, and it shall flee afar off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as thistle-down before the tempest.

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 eveningtide, behold, there is trouble; before yet it is morning it is no more. This is the portion of our spoilers, and the lot of those that plunder us.