Isaiah 17

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

This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become 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 cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.

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 fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,”

4 And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of Jacob shall be diminished, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.

“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and the fat of his body will waste away,

5 And it shall be as when the harvest-man gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

as the reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the ears with his arm, as one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be 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 fruitful branches of it, saith the LORD God of Israel.

Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten— two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,”

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

In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

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

They will not look to the altars they have fashioned with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they have made with their fingers.

9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.

10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with foreign slips:

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—

11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

though on the day you plant you make them grow, and on that morning you help your seed sprout— yet the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.

12 Woe to the multitude of many people, [who] make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, [that] make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.

13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but [God] will rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

14 And behold at the time of evening trouble; [and] before the morning he [is] not. This [is] the portion of them that ravage us, and the lot of them that rob us.

In the evening, there is sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us and the lot of those who plunder us.