Isaiah 17
17
God’s Message to Aram
1This is the message for Damascus:
“The city of Damascus will be destroyed.
Only ruins will be left there.
2People will leave the cities of Aroer.
Flocks of sheep will wander freely in those empty towns.
There will be no one to bother them.
3The strong, walled cities of Israel will be destroyed.
The government in Damascus will end.
Those left alive of Aram will be
like the glory of Israel,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.
4“At that time Israel’s wealth will all be gone.
Israel will be like a man who has lost much weight from sickness.
5That 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 they collect the grain.
6That time will also be like the olive harvest,
when a few olives are left.
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.
7At that time people will look to God, their Maker.
Their eyes will see the Holy One of Israel.
8They will not trust the altars they have made.
They will not trust what their hands have made.
They will not respect the Asherah idols
and altars they have made.
9In that day all their strong cities will be empty. They will be like the cities that the Hivites and the Amorites left. They left their cities when the Israelites came to take the land. Everything will be ruined.
10You have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered that God is your place of safety.
You plant the finest grapevines.
You plant grapevines from faraway places.
11You will plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow.
The next day they will begin to grow.
But at harvest time everything will be dead.
A sickness will kill all the plants.
12Listen to the many people!
They are crying loud like the noise from the sea.
Listen to the noise!
The crying is like the crashing of great waves.
13The people roar like those waves.
But when God speaks harshly to them, they will run away.
They will be like chaff on the hills being blown by the wind.
They will be like tumbleweeds blown away by a storm.
14At night the people will be very frightened.
Before morning, no one will be left.
So our enemies will come to our land,
but they will become nothing.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Isaiah 17
17
A Pronouncement against Damascus
1A pronouncement#Is 13:1 concerning Damascus:#Gn 14:15; 15:2; 2Kg 16:9; Jr 49:23; Am 1:3–5; Zch 9:1; Ac 9:2
Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a ruined heap.
2The cities of Aroer are abandoned;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.
3The fortress disappears from Ephraim,#Is 7:8,16; 8:4
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Judgment against Israel
4On that day
the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and his healthy body#17:4 Lit and the fat of his flesh will become emaciated.#Is 10:16
5It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain —
his arm harvesting the heads of grain —
and as if one had gleaned heads of grain
in Rephaim Valley.#2Sm 5:18,22
6Only gleanings will be left in Israel,#Dt 4:27; Is 24:13; 27:12; Ob 5; Rm 11:19
as if an olive tree had been beaten —
two or three olives at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel.
7On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.#Is 1:4 8They will not look to the altars#2Ch 34:7; Is 27:9 they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines#17:8 Or incense altars#Ex 34:13; Dt 7:5; Mc 5:14 they made with their fingers.
9On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to remember
the rock of your strength;#Dt 6:12; 8:11,14,19; 32:18; Jdg 3:7; 1Sm 12:9; Ps 106:21; Is 8:14; 26:4; 51:13; Jr 3:21; 13:25; Ezk 22:12; 23:35; Hs 2:13
therefore you will plant beautiful plants
and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
11On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.
Judgment against the Nations
12Ah! The roar of many peoples —
they roar like the roaring of the seas.
The raging of the nations —
they rage like the rumble of rushing water.#Ps 2:1; 93:1–5; Is 8:9–10; Lk 21:25
13The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent.#Is 33:3
He rebukes them, and they flee far away,#Ps 9:5; Is 41:11
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills#Jb 21:18; Ps 1:4; 83:13; Is 29:5; 41:15–16
and like tumbleweeds before a gale.
14In the evening — sudden terror!
Before morning — it is gone!
This is the fate of those who plunder us
and the lot of those who ravage us.
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