Isaiah 17
17
God’s Message to Aram
1This is a message#17:1 message Or “burden.” about Damascus#17:1 Damascus A city in the country of Aram (Syria).:
“Damascus is now a city, but it will be destroyed.
Only ruined buildings will be left there.
2People will leave the cities of Aroer.#17:2 Aroer A place in the country of Aram (Syria).
Flocks of sheep will wander freely in those empty towns;
there will be no one to bother them.
3The fort cities of Ephraim will be destroyed.
The government in Damascus will be finished.
Those left in Aram will lose everything,
just like the people of Israel,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
4“At that time Jacob’s wealth will all be gone.
Yes, Israel will be like a sick man who has become weak and thin.
5“That time will be like the grain harvest in Rephaim Valley.#17:5 Rephaim Valley A valley southwest of Jerusalem. The workers gather the plants that grow in the field. Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants and collect the grain.
6“That time will also be like the olive harvest. People knock olives from the trees, but a few olives are usually left at the top of each tree. Four or five olives are left on some of the top branches. It will be the same for those cities,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
7Then the people will look up to the one who made them. Their eyes will see the Holy One of Israel. 8They will not trust the great things they have made. They will not go to the special gardens#17:8 special gardens Gardens where people worshiped false gods. and altars#17:8 altars These might be altars for burning incense, or they might be altars for worshiping a special false god. they made for false gods. 9At that time all the walled cities will be empty. They will be like the mountains and the forests#17:9 mountains and the forests With a minor change in the Hebrew, this could be “the Horites and Amorites.” in the land before the Israelites came. In the past, all the people ran away because the Israelites were coming. In the future, the country will be empty again. 10This will happen because you have forgotten the God who saves you. You have not remembered that God is your place of safety.
You brought some very good grapevines from faraway places. You might plant those grapevines, but they will not grow. 11You will plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow, and the next day they will blossom. But at harvest time, you will go to gather the fruit from the plants, and you will see that everything is dead. A sickness will kill all the plants.
12Listen to all these people!
Their loud crying sounds like the noise from the sea.
Listen, it is like the crashing of waves in the sea.
13And like the waves,
they will rush away when God speaks harshly to them.
They will be like chaff blown away by the wind.
They will be like weeds chased by a storm.
14That night, the people will be frightened.
By morning, nothing will be left.
So our enemies will get nothing.
They will come to our land, but nothing will be there.
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Isaiah 17: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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.