Isaiah 17
17
1A message about Damascus. Look, Damascus will cease to exist as a city. Instead it will become a pile of ruins. 2The towns of Aroer will be abandoned. Flocks will live in the streets and rest there, because there won't be anyone to chase them away. 3The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,#17:3. In other words, Samaria, capital city of the northern tribes symbolized by Ephraim, will be destroyed. Damascus will no longer be a kingdom, and those that are left of the Arameans will be like the lost glory of Israel, declares the Lord Almighty.
4At that time the glory of Jacob will fade away; he will lose his strength.#17:4. “He will lose his strength”: literally, “the fat of his flesh will become lean.” 5It will look as empty as fields after reapers have harvested the grain, gathering up the grain in their arms. It will be like when people pick the heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. 6Yet there will be some left behind, like an olive tree that has been shaken—two or three ripe olives are left at the top of the tree, four or five on its lower branches, declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7At that time people will pay attention to their Creator and look to the Holy One of Israel. 8They won't believe in the altars they built and the idols they made; they will not look to the Asherah poles or the altars of incense.
9At that time their fortified cities will be like places left to be taken over by bushes and trees, just as they were previously abandoned when the Israelites invaded.#17:9. The reference is made to the time when the Israelites conquered the land. This is made explicit in the Septuagint which states that the cities will be abandoned just as the Amorites and the Hivites had done when confronted by the Israelites. The country will become completely desolate.
10You have forgotten the God who saves you; you have not remembered the Rock who protects you. So, even though you plant beautiful plants and grow exotic vines, 11even though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and have them blossom in the morning that you sow them,#17:11. Clearly an impossibility, and is to be taken as a symbol of the rapid “cultivation” of pagan fertility religions. your harvest will heap of trouble on a day of grief and pain that cannot be cured.
12Disaster is coming to the many nations that growl, growling like the raging sea! Disaster is coming to the peoples who roar, roaring like thundering waters!#17:12. While the nation is not named, this prophecy probably applies to Assyria. 13The nations roar like the roaring of crashing waves. But he#17:13. “He”: referring to the Lord. confronts them, and they run far away, blown by the wind like chaff on the mountains, like tumbleweeds driven by a storm. 14Sudden terror comes in the evening! By morning, they're gone! This is what happens to those who loot us, the fate of those who plunder us.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 17
17
Chapter 17
A message about Damascus
1This is a message about Damascus:
‘Look! Damascus is no longer a city! It has become a heap of stones.
2Nobody lives in the cities of Aroer. Sheep and goats can safely go there to eat. They can lie down there and nobody will chase them away. 3There will be no strong cities in Ephraim. #17:3 Ephraim was the Israelite kingdom in the north. No king will rule in Damascus. The few people who remain in Syria are no longer great, like Israel's people!’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
4‘At that time, Israel will no longer be great. It will be like a rich, fat person who becomes weak and hungry.
5Israel will be like a field of grain in Rephaim valley after the harvest. The workers have cut down the crops. They have picked up the grain from the ground. 6There will be only a few people that remain in Israel. They will be like a few olives that remain on a tree after the harvest. Perhaps two or three olives are still there on the highest branches. Four or five olives may remain on the other branches.’
That is what the Lord God of Israel says.
7At that time, people will turn back to their Maker. They will trust the Holy God of Israel to help them.
8They will no longer trust their idols to help them. They made altars for themselves, where they worshipped their gods. They worshipped Asherah at special poles. They made altars where they burned incense. But they will not do those things any more.
9At that time, Israel's strong cities will be empty. People will run away from those cities, as the Amorites ran away from the hills when the Israelites attacked them. Israel's strong cities will become heaps of stones. 10That will happen because you have forgotten the God who rescues you. He is the Rock where you can safely hide, but you have turned away from him. #17:10 ‘the Rock’ means God.
Instead, you plant the best plants and vines in your gardens. You buy them from foreign countries for a lot of money. 11You take care of them so that they grow quickly. They may even make flowers on the same morning that you plant them! But you will never have any fruit from them. You will only get trouble and pain that will never go away.
12It will be very bad for the armies of other nations! They are making a noise like the sea in a storm! They are as loud as powerful waves! 13But it does not matter how much noise they make. Those people may roar like powerful waves, but the Lord will shout at them to stop. Then they will run far away! They will run like the wind as it blows chaff across the hills. It will be like a strong storm that carries away dead weeds!
14Look at what happens! In the evening the enemy attacks, and we are very afraid. But by the morning they have disappeared! That is what happens to people who attack us. Anyone who tries to take away our valuable things for themselves will fail.
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