Esias 17

1 THE WORD AGAINST DAMASCUS. Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from amongst cities, and shall become a ruin;

A message about Damascus. Look, Damascus will cease to exist as city. Instead it will become a pile of ruins.

2 abandoned for ever, to [be] a fold and resting-place for flocks, and there shall be none to go after them.

The towns of Aroer will be abandoned. Flocks will live in the streets and rest there, because there won't be anyone to chase them away.

3 And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for you are no better than the children of Israel, [even] than their glory; thus says the Lord of hosts.

The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, Damascus will no longer be a kingdom, and those that are left of the Arameans will be like the lost glory of Israel, declares the Lord Almighty.

4 There shall be in that day a failure of the glory of Jacob, and the riches of his glory shall be shaken.

At that time the glory of Jacob will fade away; he will lose his strength.

5 And it shall be as if one should gather standing corn, and reap the grain of the ears; and it shall be as if one should gather ears in a rich valley;

It will look as empty as fields after reapers have harvested the grain, gathering up the grain in their arms. It will be like when people pick the heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

6 and [as if] there should be left stubble therein, or [as it were] the berries of an olive tree, two or three on the topmost bough, or [as if] four or five should be left on their branches; thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.

Yet there will be some left behind, like an olive tree that has been shaken—two or three ripe olives are left at the top of the tree, four or five on its lower branches, declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 In that day a man shall trust in him that made him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

At that time people will pay attention to their Creator and look to the Holy One of Israel.

8 And they shall not at all trust in their altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they shall not look to the trees, nor to their abominations.

They won't believe in the altars they built and the idols they made; they will not look to the Asherah poles or the altars of incense.

9 In that day your cities shall be deserted, as the Amorites and the Evaeans deserted [theirs], because of the children of Israel; and they shall be desolate.

At that time their fortified cities will be like places left to be taken over by bushes and trees, just as they were previously abandoned when the Israelites invaded. The country will become completely desolate.

10 Because you have forsaken God your Saviour, and have not been mindful of the Lord your helper; therefore shall you plant a false plant, and a false seed.

You have forgotten the God who saves you; you have not remembered the Rock who protects you. So, even though you plant beautiful plants and grow exotic vines,

11 In the day wherein you shall plant you shall be deceived; but if you sow in the morning, [the seed] shall spring up for a crop in the day wherein you shall obtain an inheritance, and as a man's father, you shall obtain an inheritance for your sons.

even though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and have them blossom in the morning that you sow them, your harvest will heap of trouble on a day of grief and pain that cannot be cured.

12 Woe [to] the multitude of many nations, as the swelling sea, so shall you be confounded; and the force of many nations shall sound like water;

Disaster is coming to the many nations that growl, growling like the raging sea! Disaster is coming to the peoples who roar, roaring like thundering waters!

13 many nations like much water, as when much water rushes violently: and they shall drive him away, and pursue him afar, as the dust of chaff when men winnow before the wind, and as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel.

The nations roar like the roaring of crashing waves. But he confronts them, and they run far away, blown by the wind like chaff on the mountains, like tumbleweeds driven by a storm.

14 Towards evening, and there shall be grief; before the morning, and he shall not be. This is the portion of them that spoiled you, and the inheritance to them that robbed you of your inheritance.

Sudden terror comes in the evening! By morning, they're gone! This is what happens to those who loot us, the fate of those who plunder us.