Isaiah 17

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city, and it will be like a heap of stones in ruin.

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

2 The cities in ruin will be left for the flocks, and they will take rest there, and there will be no one who may terrify them.

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

3 And assistance will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom will cease from Damascus. And the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the sons of Israel, says the Lord of hosts.

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.

4 And this shall be in that day: the glory of Jacob will be thinned, and the fatness of his flesh will be reduced.

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.

5 And it shall be like the gathering of the harvest which remains, and his arm will pick the ears of grain. And it shall be like a search for grain in the valley of Rephaim.

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.

6 And what is left behind in it will be like one cluster of grapes, or like a shaken olive tree with two or three olives at the top of a branch, or like four or five olives at the top of a tree, says the Lord God of Israel.

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.

7 In that day, a man will bow before his Maker, and his eyes will consider the Holy One of Israel.

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

8 And he will not bow before the altars that his hands have made. And he will not consider the things that his fingers have made, the sacred groves and the shrines.

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.

9 In that day, his strong cities will be abandoned, like the plows and the grain fields which were left behind before the face of the sons of Israel, and you shall be deserted.

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.

10 For you have forgotten God your Savior, and you have not remembered your strong Helper. Because of this, you will plant trustworthy plants, but you will sow a foreign seed.

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;

11 In the day of your planting, the wild grapevine and your morning seed will flourish. The harvest has been taken away to the day of inheritance, and you will grieve heavily.

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.

12 Woe to the multitude of many peoples, like the multitude of the roaring sea! Woe to the tumult of crowds, like the noise of many waters!

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!

13 The peoples will make a noise, like the noise of waters overflowing, but he will rebuke him, and so he will flee far away. And he will be quickly taken away, like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind, and like a whirlwind before a tempest.

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.

14 In the time of the evening, behold: there will be a disturbance. When it is early morning, he will not remain. This is the portion of those who have devastated us, and this is the lot of those who have plundered us.

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.