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
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 17
17
1The message concerning Dammeseq. “See, Dammeseq ceases to be a city, and shall become a heap of ruins.
2“The cities of Aro‛ĕr are forsaken, they are for flocks which shall lie down, with no one to frighten.
3“And the stronghold shall cease from Ephrayim, and the reign from Dammeseq, and the remnant of Aram be as the esteem of the sons of Yisra’ĕl,” declares יהוה of hosts.
4“And in that day it shall be that the esteem of Ya‛aqoḇ wanes, and the fatness of his flesh grows lean.
5“And it shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, and reaps the heads with his arm. And it shall be as he who gathers heads of grain in the Valley of Repha’im.
6“And gleaning grapes shall be left in it, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives at the top of the uppermost branch, four or five in its most fruit-bearing branches,” declares יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl.
7In that day man shall look to his Maker, and his eyes turn to the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl.
8And he shall not look to the slaughter-places, the work of his hands; and he shall not see that which his own fingers made, nor the Ashĕrim nor the sun-pillars.
9In that day his strong cities become like a forsaken forest and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Yisra’ĕl. And it shall become a ruin.
10Because you have forgotten the Elohim of your deliverance, and have not remembered the Rock of your stronghold, therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings,
11by day make your plant to grow, and in the morning make your seed to flourish – but the harvest is a heap in the day of grief and incurable pain.
12Woe to the uproar of many people who make a noise like the roar of the seas, and to the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters –
13nations rushing like the rushing of many waters. But He shall rebuke them and they shall flee far away, and be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like whirling dust before the whirlwind.
14At eventide, look! Alarm! Before morning, it is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
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