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God’s Message to Aram

17 This is a ·message [prophecy; oracle; burden] about Damascus:

[L Look; T Behold] The city of Damascus will ·be destroyed [L cease to be];
    only ruins will remain.
The cities of Aroer will be ·abandoned [deserted; desolate].
    ·Flocks will wander freely in those empty towns [L They will be for flocks];
    they will lie down and no one will ·bother [disturb; frighten] them.
The ·strong, walled [fortified] cities of ·Israel [L Ephraim; C the most influential tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel] will be destroyed.
    The ·government in Damascus will end [L kingdom from Damascus; C the capital of Syria].
·Those left alive [The remnant] of Aram [C Syria] will be
    like the glory of Israel,” says the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts].

“·At that time [L In that day] ·Israel’s wealth [L Jacob’s glory] will ·all be gone [or fade; wane].
    ·Israel will be like a body wasting away from sickness [L The fatness of his flesh will grow lean].
That time will be like the grain harvest in the Valley of Rephaim.
    The workers cut the wheat.
    Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants
    and collect the grain.
That time will also be like ·the olive harvest [when an olive tree is beaten],
    when ·a few olives [L gleanings] are left [24:13].
Two or three olives are left in the top branches.
    Four or five olives are left on full branches,” says the Lord, the God of Israel.

·At that time [L In that day] people will look to their Maker;
    their eyes will ·see [or L look toward] the Holy One of Israel [1:4].
They will not trust the altars ·they have made [L the work of their hands],
    nor will they trust what their ·hands [L fingers] have made,
not even the ·Asherah idols [L Asherahs; C sacred trees or poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah] and ·altars [incense altars].

·At that time [L In that day] all their strong cities will be empty. They will be like the ·cities the Hivites and [or wooded heights] the Amorites left when the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] came to take the land. Everything will be ruined.

10 You have forgotten the God who ·saves [rescues] you;
    you have not remembered ·that God is your place of safety [L the Rock, your stronghold/strength].
You plant ·the finest [beautiful; pleasant] plants
    and grapevines from ·faraway [exotic; foreign] places.
11 You plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow,
    and ·the next day [in the morning] you make them blossom.
But ·at harvest time everything will be dead [L the harvest will be a heap/disaster];
    ·a sickness will kill all the plants [L in the day of disease and incurable pain].

12 ·Listen [or Woe] to the many people!
    ·Their crying is like the noise from the sea [They rage/roar like the raging/roaring sea].
·Listen [or Woe] to the nations!
    Their ·crying [roar] is like the ·crashing [roaring] of great ·waves [waters].
13 The people roar like the ·waves [roaring of many waters],
    but when ·God [L he] ·speaks harshly to [shouts at; rebukes] them, they will ·run [flee far] away.
They will be like chaff on the hills being blown by the wind,
    or like ·tumbleweeds [L a rolling thing] blown away by a storm.
14 ·At night [L In the time of evening] ·the people will be very frightened [L look/T behold, terror!].
    Before morning, ·no one will be left [the enemy will be gone; L he is no more].
This is the ·fate [portion] of those who ·steal from [plunder] us,
    and ·what happens to [the lot of] those who ·rob [loot] us.

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecy(A) against Damascus:(B)

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.(C)
The cities of Aroer(D) will be deserted
    and left to flocks,(E) which will lie down,(F)
    with no one to make them afraid.(G)
The fortified(H) city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory(I) of the Israelites,”(J)
declares the Lord Almighty.

“In that day(K) the glory(L) of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste(M) away.
It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering(N) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain(O)
    in the Valley of Rephaim.(P)
Yet some gleanings will remain,(Q)
    as when an olive tree is beaten,(R)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

In that day(S) people will look(T) to their Maker(U)
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One(V) of Israel.
They will not look to the altars,(W)
    the work of their hands,(X)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[a](Y)
    and the incense altars their fingers(Z) have made.

In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.(AA) And all will be desolation.

10 You have forgotten(AB) God your Savior;(AC)
    you have not remembered the Rock,(AD) your fortress.(AE)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,(AF)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning(AG) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest(AH) will be as nothing(AI)
    in the day of disease and incurable(AJ) pain.(AK)

12 Woe to the many nations that rage(AL)
    they rage like the raging sea!(AM)
Woe to the peoples who roar(AN)
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!(AO)
13 Although the peoples roar(AP) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes(AQ) them they flee(AR) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff(AS) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.(AT)
14 In the evening, sudden(AU) terror!(AV)
    Before the morning, they are gone!(AW)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah

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

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

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.

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

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

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 thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.

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

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.

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.

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 strange slips:

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.

12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which 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!

13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall 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.

14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.