Prophecy about Damascus

17 The [a](A)oracle concerning (B)Damascus.

“Behold, Damascus is about to be (C)removed from being a city
And will become a (D)fallen ruin.
“The cities [b]of (E)Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for (F)flocks [c]to lie down in,
And there will be (G)no one to frighten them.
“The [d](H)fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And [e]sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the (I)glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord of hosts.

Now in that day the (J)glory of Jacob will [f]fade,
And (K)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
It will be (L)even like the [g]reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the (M)valley of Rephaim.
Yet (N)gleanings will be left in it like the [h]shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost bough,
Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree,
Declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
In that day man will (O)have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
He will not have regard for the (P)altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his (Q)fingers have made,
Even the [i](R)Asherim and [j]incense stands.
In that day [k]their strong cities will be like [l]forsaken places in the forest,
Or like [m]branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And [n]the land will be a desolation.
10 For (S)you have forgotten the (T)God of your salvation
And have not remembered the (U)rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine slips of a strange god.
11 In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the (V)morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will (W)be a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

12 Alas, the uproar of many peoples
(X)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the (Y)rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The (Z)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will (AA)rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased (AB)like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.
14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning (AC)they are no more.
[o]Such will be the portion of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:1 Or burden of
  2. Isaiah 17:2 Gr reads forever and ever
  3. Isaiah 17:2 Lit and they will lie down
  4. Isaiah 17:3 Or fortification
  5. Isaiah 17:3 Or royal power, kingdom
  6. Isaiah 17:4 Lit become thin
  7. Isaiah 17:5 Lit gathering of the harvest, the standing grain
  8. Isaiah 17:6 Lit striking
  9. Isaiah 17:8 I.e. wooden symbols of a female deity
  10. Isaiah 17:8 Or sun pillars
  11. Isaiah 17:9 I.e. man’s
  12. Isaiah 17:9 Gr reads the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
  13. Isaiah 17:9 Or the treetop
  14. Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
  15. Isaiah 17:14 Lit This