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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Isaiah 17
17
Oracle of Judgment on Damascus
1An oracle of Damascus:
“Look! Damascus will cease being a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2The cities of Aroer will be deserted;#These words in Hebrew (and “flocks” in the next line) all begin with the same letter, Ayin
they will be for the flocks,
and they will lie down and no one will frighten#Literally “there is not one who frightens” them.
3And the fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel,”
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh of hosts.
4“And this shall happen:
On that day, the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will become lean.
5And it shall be as when a reaper gathers#Literally “a gathering of a reaper of” standing grain
and he reaps grain with his arm,
and it shall be like one who gathers ears of grain
in the valley of Rephaim.
6And gleanings will be left over in it, as when an olive tree is beaten,#Literally “beating of an olive tree”
two or three ripe olive berries in the top of a branch,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh, the God of Israel.
7On that day, mankind will look to its maker,
and its eyes will look to the holy one of Israel;
8it will not look to the altars,
the work of its hands,
and it will not see what its fingers made
and the poles of Asherah worship and the incense altars.
9On that day, its fortified cities#Literally “the cities of his fortress” will be like the abandonment of the wooded place and the summit,#Perhaps this difficult phrase originally read “abandonment of the wooded heights of the Amorites” which they deserted because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge;
therefore you plant plants of pleasantness,
and you plant#Literally “plant it” a vine of a foreigner.
11On your planting day you make them grow,
and in the morning of your sowing you bring them into bloom,
yet the harvest will flee#Reading the same consonants as a verb, nad, rather than the noun ned, which would mean “a heap ofthe harvest” in a day of sickness and incurable pain.
The Roar of the Peoples
12Ah! The noise of many peoples, they make a noise like the noise of the seas!
And the roar of nations, they roar like the roar of mighty waters!
13The nations roar like the roar of many waters,
but he will rebuke him, and he will flee far away.
And they are chased like chaff of the mountains before the wind
and like tumbleweed before the storm.
14At the time of evening, and look, terror!
Before morning he is no more.
This is the fate of those who plunder us
and the lot of those who plunder us.
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