Isaiah 17

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

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

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks; and they shall lie down and there shall be none to make them afraid.

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

3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith Jehovah of hosts.

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 thou art no better than the children of Israel, [even] than their glory; thus saith the Lord of hosts.

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

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

5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; yea, it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

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;

6 And a gleaning shall be left in it, as at the shaking of an olive-tree: two, three berries above, in the tree-top; four, five in its fruitful boughs, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel.

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 saith the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 In that day shall man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have regard to the Holy One of Israel.

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

8 And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor have regard to what his fingers have made, neither the Asherahs nor the sun-images.

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.

9 In that day shall his strong cities be as the forsaken tract in the woodland, and the mountain-top which they forsook before the children of Israel; and there shall be desolation.

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

10 For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plantations, and shalt set them with foreign slips:

Because thou hast forsaken God thy Saviour, and hast not been mindful of the Lord thy helper; therefore shalt thou plant a false plant, and a false seed.

11 in the day of thy planting wilt thou make [them] to grow, and on the morrow wilt thou make thy seed to flourish; [but] the harvest will flee in the day of taking possession, and the sorrow will be incurable.

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

12 Ha! a tumult of many peoples! they make a noise as the noise of the seas; — and the rushing of nations! they rush as the rushing of mighty waters.

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

13 The nations rush as the rushing of many waters; but he will rebuke them, and they shall flee far away, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a whirling [of dust] before the whirlwind:

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.

14 behold, at eventide, trouble; before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Toward 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.