An Oracle Concerning Damascus
17 An (A)oracle concerning (B)Damascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of (C)Aroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and (D)none will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from (E)Ephraim,
and the kingdom from (F)Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like (G)the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day (H)the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and (I)the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be (J)as when the reaper gathers standing corn
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of corn
in (K)the Valley of Rephaim.
6 (L)Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.
7 (M)In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 (N)He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the (O)Asherim or the altars of incense.
9 (P)In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10 For (Q)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the (R)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow[a] on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away[b]
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, (S)the thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 (T)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
(U)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased (V)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and (W)whirling dust before the storm.
14 (X)At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:11 Or though you carefully fence them
- Isaiah 17:11 Or will be a heap
Cross references
- Isaiah 17:1 : See ch. 13:1
- Isaiah 17:1 : ch. 7:8; Zech. 9:1; See Jer. 49:23-27; Amos 1:3-5
- Isaiah 17:2 : Deut. 2:36; Josh. 13:25
- Isaiah 17:2 : Mic. 4:4
- Isaiah 17:3 : ch. 7:16; 8:4
- Isaiah 17:3 : ch. 7:16; 8:4
- Isaiah 17:3 : [1 Sam. 4:21]
- Isaiah 17:4 : [See ver. 3 above]; [1 Sam. 4:21]
- Isaiah 17:4 : ch. 10:16
- Isaiah 17:5 : [ch. 24:1]
- Isaiah 17:5 : See 2 Sam. 5:18
- Isaiah 17:6 : ch. 24:13
- Isaiah 17:7 : [Hos. 8:14]
- Isaiah 17:8 : ch. 27:9; Mic. 5:13, 14
- Isaiah 17:8 : Ex. 34:13; See Deut. 16:21
- Isaiah 17:9 : [ch. 27:10]
- Isaiah 17:10 : Ps. 106:21
- Isaiah 17:10 : ch. 26:4; [Deut. 32:4, 18, 31]
- Isaiah 17:12 : See ch. 22:5-7
- Isaiah 17:13 : [ch. 33:3]
- Isaiah 17:13 : Ps. 9:5; [Joel 3:2]
- Isaiah 17:13 : See Ps. 1:4
- Isaiah 17:13 : Ps. 83:13
- Isaiah 17:14 : [Ps. 30:5]