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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Isaiah 17: FBV
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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
1The burden of Damascus: Behold, Damascus will cease as a city and will become a ruinous heap.
2The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks—they will lie down and no one will frighten them.
3The fortress will also cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the glory of Bnei-Yisrael. It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
Jacob’s Glory Fades
4Now in that day Jacob’s glory will fade, and the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
5It will be as when the harvester gathers the standing grain and reaps the heads with his arm, as when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.
6Only gleanings will remain, as when beating an olive tree— two or three olives at the very top, four or five on a fruitful tree’s branches. It is a declaration of Adonai God of Israel.
7In that day a man will look to his Maker and his eyes will turn to the Holy One of Israel.
8He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor will he look to what his fingers have made—neither the Asherah poles nor the sun-images.
9In that day the strong cities will be like forsaken forests and treetops that were abandoned, because of Bnei-Yisrael—they will be laid waste.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and you have not remembered the Rock of your strength. Therefore you plant delightful plants and set out exotic vines.
11In the day that you plant, you fence it in, and in the morning you made your seed to sprout— but the harvest will be a heap in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12Oy ! The uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas. The rumbling of nations, who rush in like the rumbling of mighty waters!
13The nations will rush in like the rumbling of many waters, but He will rebuke them so they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the hills before the wind, like whirling dust before the storm.
14At evening time—sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more. This is the reward of those who plunder us and the lot of those who pillage us.
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