Isaiah 17
17
Damascus
1Oracle on Damascus:#Damascus: capital of Aram or Syria, conquered by Tiglath-pileser III at the end of the Syro-Ephraimite War in 732 B.C.
See, Damascus shall cease to be a city
and become a pile of ruins;#2 Kgs 16:9; Jer 49:23; Am 1:3; Zec 9:1.
2Her cities shall be forever abandoned,
for flocks to lie in undisturbed.
3The fortress shall vanish from Ephraim#Ephraim: Israel, leagued with Aram against Judah in the Syro-Ephraimite War. Assyria ravaged and captured most of Israelite territory in 734–733 B.C. Like the glory of the Israelites: the remnant of Aram will be no more impressive than the pitiful remnant of the Northern Kingdom.
and dominion from Damascus;
The remnant of Aram shall become like the glory
of the Israelites—
oracle of the Lord of hosts.
4On that day
The glory of Jacob shall fade,
and his full body shall grow thin.#Is 10:16.
5Like the reaper’s mere armful of stalks,
when he gathers the standing grain;
Or as when one gleans the ears
in the Valley of Rephaim.#Valley of Rephaim: a fertile plain just to the southwest of Jerusalem (cf. Jos 15:8; 2 Sm 5:18). Since it was near a large population center, the fields there would be thoroughly gleaned by the poor after the harvest, leaving very few ears of grain.
6#Olives not easily picked by hand were knocked from the tree by means of a long stick; cf. 24:13. Only gleanings shall be left in it,
as when an olive tree has been beaten—
Two or three olives at the very top,
four or five on its most fruitful branches—
oracle of the Lord, the God of Israel.#Is 24:13.
7On that day people shall turn to their maker,
their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.#Is 5:12.
8They shall not turn to the altars, the work of their hands,
nor shall they look to what their fingers have made:
the asherahs#Asherahs: see note on Ex 34:13. Incense stands: small altars on which incense was burned; cf. Is 27:9; Lv 26:30. or the incense stands.
9On that day his strong cities shall be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites
When faced with the Israelites;
and there shall be desolation.#Is 27:10.
10Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you,
the Rock, your refuge, you have not remembered.#Ps 106:13, 21; Jer 2:32; Hos 8:14.
Therefore, though you plant plants for the Pleasant One,#The Pleasant One: an epithet for a foreign god of fertility, probably Adonis, in whose honor saplings were planted.
and set out cuttings for a foreign one,#Is 1:29–31.
11Though you make them grow the day you plant them
and make them blossom the morning you set them out,
The harvest shall disappear on a day of sickness
and incurable pain.
12Ah! the roaring of many peoples—#Many peoples: the hordes that accompanied the invading Assyrians, whom God repels just as he vanquished the primeval waters of chaos; see notes on Jb 3:8; 7:12; Ps 89:11.
a roar like the roar of the seas!
The thundering of nations—
thunder like the thundering of mighty waters!#Ps 46:3–7; 93:3–4.
13#The passage seems to evoke the motif of invincibility, part of the early Zion tradition that Jerusalem could not be conquered because God protected it (Ps 48:1–8). But God shall rebuke them,
and they shall flee far away,
Driven like chaff on the mountains before a wind,
like tumbleweed before a storm.#Ps 76:7; 83:14.
14At evening, there is terror,
but before morning, they are gone!
Such is the portion of those who despoil us,
the lot of those who plunder us.#Is 29:8.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Isaiah 17
17
A Message about Damascus and Israel
1This message came to me concerning Damascus:
“Look, the city of Damascus will disappear!
It will become a heap of ruins.
2The towns of Aroer will be deserted.
Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed,
with no one to chase them away.
3The fortified towns of Israel#17:3a Hebrew of Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel. will also be destroyed,
and the royal power of Damascus will end.
All that remains of Syria#17:3b Hebrew Aram.
will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,”
declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4“In that day Israel’s#17:4 Hebrew Jacob’s. See note on 14:1. glory will grow dim;
its robust body will waste away.
5The whole land will look like a grainfield
after the harvesters have gathered the grain.
It will be desolate,
like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
6Only a few of its people will be left,
like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.
Only two or three remain in the highest branches,
four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7Then at last the people will look to their Creator
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8They will no longer look to their idols for help
or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
9Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest,
like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned#17:9 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads like places of the wood and the highest bough.
when the Israelites came here so long ago.
It will be utterly desolate.
10Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you.
You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you.
So you may plant the finest grapevines
and import the most expensive seedlings.
11They may sprout on the day you set them out;
yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them,
but you will never pick any grapes from them.
Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.
12Listen! The armies of many nations
roar like the roaring of the sea.
Hear the thunder of the mighty forces
as they rush forward like thundering waves.
13But though they thunder like breakers on a beach,
God will silence them, and they will run away.
They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind,
like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
14In the evening Israel waits in terror,
but by dawn its enemies are dead.
This is the just reward of those who plunder us,
a fitting end for those who destroy us.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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