Isaiah 17

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

[I received] this message [from Yahweh] about Damascus [the capital of Syria]: “Listen carefully! Damascus will no longer be a city; it will be [only] a heap of ruins!

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

The towns near Aroer [city] will be abandoned. Flocks [of sheep] will [eat grass in the streets and] lie down there, and there will be no one to chase them away.

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 the LORD of hosts.

The cities in Israel will not have walls around them [to protect them]. The power of the kingdom of Damascus will be ended, and the few people who will remain in Damascus will be disgraced like the people in Israel were disgraced.” [That is what] the Commander of the armies of angels says.

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

“At that time, Israel will become insignificant. It will be [like] [MET] a fat person who has become very thin.

5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing corn, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

The entire land will be like [SIM] a field where the harvesters have cut all the grain; there will be nothing left, like [SIM] the fields in the Rephaim Valley after all the crops have been harvested.

6 Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith the LORD, the God of Israel.

Only a few of the Israeli people will remain [MET], like [SIM] the few olives that remain on the top of a tree after the workers have caused all the other olives to fall [to the ground]. [There will be only] two or three olives in the top branches, [or] four or five olives on the other branches.” [That is what] the Commander of the armies of angels says.

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

[Then], at that time, [you] people [of Israel] will (turn for help to/look up to) God, your creator, the Holy One of Israel.

8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall he have respect to that which his fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images.

You will no [longer] seek to get help from your idols or worship the idols that you have made with your own hands [DOU]. You will never again bow down in front of the poles [where you worship the goddess] Asherah. You will never again worship at the shrines [that you have built for burning incense].

9 In that day shall his strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel: and it shall be a desolation.

The largest cities in Israel will be abandoned, like the land that the Hiv and Amor people-groups abandoned (OR, like the forests that the [Canaan people-group] abandoned) when the Israelis [attacked them long ago]. No one will live there.

10 For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore thou plantest pleasant plants, and settest it with strange slips:

[That will happen] because you have stopped worshiping God who is [like] [MET] a huge rock under which you can be safe. You have forgotten that he is the one who can hide/protect you. So, [now] you plant very nice grapevines and [even] plant very expensive ones that come from other countries.

11 In the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom: but the harvest fleeth away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

[But] even if they sprout leaves on the day that you plant them, and even if they produce blossoms on that same morning, at harvest time, there will not be any grapes for you to pick. All that you will get is a lot of agony/misery.

12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, which roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

Listen! [The armies of] many nations will roar like the sea roars. It will sound like the noise of crashing waves.

13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

But even though their loud roaring will be like the sound of crashing waves, when Yahweh rebukes them, they will run far away. They will flee like [SIM] chaff on the hills scatters when the wind [blows], like tumbleweeds scatter when a windstorm blows.

14 At eventide behold terror; [and] before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

And, even though you people of Israel will be terrified, in the morning [your enemies] will all be gone/dead. That is what will happen to those who invade our land and [then] steal our possessions.