Isaiah 17

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, And it has been a heap—a ruin.

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

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken, They are for droves, and they have lain down, And there is none troubling.

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 the fortress has ceased from Ephraim, And the kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Aram are as the glory of the sons of Israel, A declaration of YHWH 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 And it has come to pass in that day, The glory of Jacob waxes poor, And the fatness of his flesh waxes lean.

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

5 And it has come to pass, As the gathering of the standing grain by the reaper, And his arm reaps the ears, And it has come to pass, As the gathering of the ears in the Valley of Rephaim,

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 gleanings have been left in him, As the surrounding of an olive, Two—three berries on the top of a branch, Four—five on the fruitful boughs, A declaration of YHWH, 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 man looks to His Maker, Indeed, his eyes look 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 he does not look to the altars. The work of his own hands, And that which his own fingers made, He does not see—the Asherim and the images.

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 the cities of his strength are As the forsaken thing of the forest, And the branch that they have left, Because of the sons of Israel, It has also been a desolation.

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 forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not remembered the Rock of your strength, Therefore you plant plants of pleasantness, And sow it with a strange shoot,

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 You cause your plant to become great in the day, And make your seed to flourish in the morning, The harvest [is] a heap in a day of overflowing, And of mortal pain.

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 peoples, They sound as the sounding of seas; And the roaring of nations, As the roaring of mighty waters [that] make a crashing.

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 Nations crash as the roaring of many waters, And He rebuked them, And they fled far off, And were pursued as chaff of hills before wind, And as a rolling thing before a windstorm.

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 At evening, behold, terror, before morning it is not, This [is] the portion of our spoilers, And the lot of our plunderers!

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.