Isaiah 17

1 The oracle on Damascus, —Lo! Damascus, is to be removed from being a city, And shall become a heap of ruins:

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

2 Forsaken, are the desolate cities, —For flocks, shall they serve, Which shall lie down and have none to make them afraid.

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

3 Then shall the fortress cease from Ephraim, And the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria, —Like the glory of the sons of Israel, shall they be, —Declareth Yahweh of hosts.

And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus. And the remnant of Syria, they shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel, says Jehovah of hosts.

4 And it shall come to pass in that day, That the glory of Jacob, shall be diminished, And, the fatness of his flesh, shall be wasted;

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 grow lean.

5 And it shall come to pass—That, as the harvestman gathereth standing corn, And with his arm—the ears, he reapeth, Yea it shall come to pass—That, so, shall he be who gleaneth ears, in the vale of Rephaim;

And it shall be as when the harvestman gathers the standing grain, and his arm reaps the ears. Yea, it shall be as when he gleans ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6 Yet shall there be left therein, a gleaning. As in the beating of an olive-tree, —Two-three berries in the head of the tree-top, —Four—five, among her fruitful boughs, Declareth Yahweh God of Israel.

Yet there shall be gleanings left in it, 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, says Jehovah, the God of Israel.

7 In that day, shall the son of earth look to him that made him, —And his eyes unto the Holy One of Israel, be turned;

In that day men shall look to their maker, and their eyes shall have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

8 And he shall not look unto the altars the work of his own hands, —Nor to what his own fingers have made, shall his eye be turned, Whether Sacred Stems or Sun-pillars.

And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands, nor shall they have respect for that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images.

9 In that day, shall his fortified cities become Like a neglected bough and a topmost branch, Which they neglected because of the sons of Israel, —So shall there be desolation.

In that day their strong cities shall be as the forsaken places in the woodland and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the sons of Israel, and it shall be a desolation.

10 Because thou didst forget the God of thy salvation, And thy Rock of refuge, thou didst not remember, For this cause, shalt thou plant very pleasant plants, And, the slip of a stranger, shalt thou set:

For thou have forgotten the God of thy salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore thou plant pleasant plants, and set it with foreign slips.

11 In the day when thou plantest, fence thou in, And in the morning, cause thou, thy slip, to blossom, —A harvest will have waved in the day of destiny, and mortal pain.

In the day of thy planting thou hedge it in, and in the morning thou make thy seed to blossom. But the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Alas! the booming of many peoples, Like the booming of the seas, shall they boom, —And the rushing of nations! Like the rushing of mighty waters, shall they rush.

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

13 Though nations like the rushing of many waters, shall rush, Yet shall one rebuke him, And he shall flee far away, —And be chased As the chaff of the mountains before a wind, And as whirling stubble before a storm!

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.

14 At eventide, lo! terror, Before morning, he is not! This, is the portion of them who plunder us, And the lot of them who make of us a prey.

At eventide, behold, terror, and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who rob us.