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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MissionAssist 2018
Isaiah 17
17
The Burden against Damascus
(Jeremiah 49:23–27)
1This is the burden against Damascus:
“Behold, Damascus is no longer a city;
it has become a heap of ruins.
2The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be left to the flocks,
which will lie down with no one to fear.
3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,#17:3 Or The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, that is, from the northern kingdom of Israel
and the sovereignty from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord of Hosts.
4“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and the fat of his body will waste away,
5as the reaper gathers the standing grain
and harvests the ears with his arm,
as one gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6Yet gleanings will remain,
like an olive tree that has been beaten—
two or three berries atop the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7In that day men will look to their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8They will not look to the altars
they have fashioned with their hands
or to the Asherahs and incense altars
they have made with their fingers.
9In that day their strong cities
will be like forsaken thickets and summits,
abandoned to the Israelites
and to utter desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.
Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots
and set out cuttings from exotic vines—
11though on the day you plant
you make them grow,
and on that morning
you help your seed sprout—
yet the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.
12Alas, the tumult of many peoples;
they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations;
they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
13The nations rage like the rush of many waters.
He rebukes them, and they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweeds before a gale.
14In the evening, there is sudden terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us
and the lot of those who plunder us.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.