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
The Lord Will Judge Damascus
1 Here is a message about Damascus:
“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,
it is a heap of ruins!
2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned.#tn Three cities are known by this name in the OT: (1) an Aroer located near the Arnon, (2) an Aroer in Ammon, and (3) an Aroer of Judah. (See BDB 792-93 s.v. עֲרֹעֵר, and HALOT 883 s.v. II עֲרוֹעֵר.) There is no mention of an Aroer in Syrian territory. For this reason some want to emend the text here to עֲזֻבוֹת עָרַיהָ עֲדֵי עַד (’azuvot ’arayha ’adey ’ad, “her cities are permanently abandoned”). However, Aroer near the Arnon was taken by Israel and later conquered by the Syrians. (See Josh 12:2; 13:9, 16; Judg 11:26; 2 Kgs 10:33). This oracle pertains to Israel as well as Syria (note v. 3), so it is possible that this is a reference to Israelite and/or Syrian losses in Transjordan.
They will be used for herds,
which will lie down there in peace.#tn Heb “and they lie down and there is no one scaring [them].”
3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim,
and Damascus will lose its kingdom.#tn Heb “and kingship from Damascus”; cf. NASB “And sovereignty from Damascus.”
The survivors in Syria
will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,”
says the Lord who commands armies.
4 “At that time#tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished,#tn Heb “will be tiny.”
and he will become skin and bones.#tn Heb “and the fatness of his flesh will be made lean.”
5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest,
and his hand gleans the ear of grain.
It will be like one gathering the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 There will be some left behind,
like when an olive tree is beaten –
two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
says the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that time#tn Heb “in that day” (so ASV, NASB, NIV); KJV “At that day.” men will trust in their creator;#tn Heb “man will gaze toward his maker.”
they will depend on#tn Heb “his eyes will look toward.” the Holy One of Israel.#sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
8 They will no longer trust in#tn Heb “he will not gaze toward.” the altars their hands made,
or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.#tn Heb “and that which his fingers made he will not see, the Asherah poles and the incense altars.”
9 At that time#tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). their fortified cities will be
like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,#tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “like the abandonment of the wooded height and the top one.” The following relative clause appears to allude back to the Israelite conquest of the land, so it seems preferable to emend הַחֹרֶשׁ וְהָאָמִיר (hakhoresh vÿha’amir, “the wooded height and the top one”) to חֹרֵשֵׁי הָאֱמֹרִי (khoreshe ha’emori, “[like the abandonment] of the wooded heights of the Amorites”).
which they abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10 For you ignore#tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). the God who rescues you;
you pay no attention to your strong protector.#tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”
So this is what happens:
You cultivate beautiful plants
and plant exotic vines.#tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.
11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow;#tn Heb “in the day of your planting you [?].” The precise meaning of the verb תְּשַׂגְשֵׂגִי (tÿsagsegi) is unclear. It is sometimes derived from שׂוּג/סוּג (sug, “to fence in”; see BDB 691 s.v. II סוּג). In this case one could translate “you build a protective fence.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one derives the form from שָׂגָא/שָׂגָה (saga’/sagah, “to grow”); see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:351, n. 4. For this verb, see BDB 960 s.v. שָׂגָא.
the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.
Yet the harvest will disappear#tc The Hebrew text has, “a heap of harvest.” However, better sense is achieved if נֵד (ned, “heap”) is emended to a verb. Options include נַד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד [nadad, “flee, depart”]), נָדַד (Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד), נֹדֵד (noded, Qal active participle from נָדַד), and נָד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular, or participle masculine singular, from נוּד [nud, “wander, flutter”]). See BDB 626 s.v. נוּד and HALOT 672 s.v. I נדד. One could translate literally: “[the harvest] departs,” or “[the harvest] flies away.” in the day of disease
and incurable pain.
12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead,#tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves.#tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”
The people making such an uproar are as good as dead,#tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.
those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.#tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”
13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves,#tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”
when he shouts at#tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53. them, they will flee to a distant land,
driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,
or like dead thistles#tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.” before a strong gale.
14 In the evening there is sudden terror;#tn Heb “at the time of evening, look, sudden terror.”
by morning they vanish.#tn Heb “before morning he is not.”
This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,
the destiny of those who try to loot us!#tn Heb “this is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who loot us.”
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