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 declaration about Damascus.

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

The cities of Aroer will be abandoned. They will be places for flocks to lie down, and no one will frighten them.

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!

Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram—they will be like the glory of the people of Israel—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts.

4 And it has come to pass in that day, The glory of Jacob waxes poor, And the fatness of his flesh waxes lean.

It will come about on that day that the glory of Jacob will become thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

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 be as when a harvester gathers the standing grain, and his arm reaps the heads of grain. It will be as when one gleans 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!

Gleanings will be left, however, as when the olive tree is shaken: two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the highest branches of a fruitful tree—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

7 In that day man looks to His Maker, Indeed, his eyes look to the Holy One of Israel,

On that day men will look toward their Maker, and their eyes will 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 will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, nor will they look to what their fingers have made, the Asherah poles or the sun images.

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.

On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned wooded slopes on the hill summits, that were forsaken because of the people of Israel and that will become a desolation.

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,

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have ignored the rock of your strength. So you plant pleasant plants, and set out vine branches received from a stranger,

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.

on the day you plant and hedge and cultivate. Soon your seed will grow, but the harvest will fail on a day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

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.

Woe! The uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty 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 will roar like the rushing of many waters, but he will rebuke them and they will flee far away, they will be chased before the wind like chaff on the mountains, and like weeds whirling before 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!

In the evening, see, terror! Before the morning they will be gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who rob us.