Isaiah 17

1 A declaration about Damascus.

The doom of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is deprived of being a city, and it shall become decaying ruins.

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

Forsaken are the cities of 'Aro'er: they shall be [given up] to flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3 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.

And there shall cease the fortress from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: like the glory of the children of Israel shall they be, saith the Lord of hosts.

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

And it shall come to pass on that day, that the glory of Jacob shall vanish, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.

5 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.

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

6 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.

And there shall be left on it gleaning-fruit, as one shaketh an olive-tree, two or three berries on the top of the uppermost bough, four or five on the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith the Lord the God of Israel.

7 On that day men will look toward their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

On that day shall a man turn his regard up to his Maker, and his eyes shall look toward the Holy One of Israel.

8 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.

And he shall not turn his regard to the altars, the work of his hands; and he shall not look at what his fingers have made, both the groves and the sun-images.

9 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.

On that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken ruin in a forest, and on a mountain-peak, which they left because of the children of Israel: and the land shall be desolate.

10 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,

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and the rock of thy strength thou hast not remembered; therefore wouldst thou plant luxuriant plantings, and wouldst set out the shoots of the stranger therein.

11 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.

[Already] on the day that thou plantedst thou causedst to grow, and in the morning thou madest thy seed to blossom; but now fleeth the harvest on the day of disease and of incurable pain.

12 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!

Woe to the raging of many people, who rage like the raging of the seas; and to the noise of nations, that make a noise like the roar of mighty waters!

13 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.

The nations will make a noise like the roaring of many waters; but He will rebuke it, and it shall flee afar off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as thistle-down before the tempest.

14 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.

At eveningtide, behold, there is trouble; before yet it is morning it is no more. This is the portion of our spoilers, and the lot of those that plunder us.