Isaiah 17
17
An Oracle against Damascus
1An oracle # Is 13:1 against Damascus: # Gn 14:15; 15:2; 2Kg 16:9; Jr 49:23; Am 1:3-5; Zch 9:1; Ac 9:2
Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a ruined heap.
2The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.
3The fortress disappears from Ephraim, # Is 7:8,16; 8:4
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.
Judgment against Israel
4On that day
the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and his healthy body # Lit and the fat of his flesh will become emaciated. # Is 10:16
5It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain —
his arm harvesting the heads of grain —
and as if one had gleaned heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim. # 2Sm 5:18,22
6Only gleanings will be left in Israel, # Dt 4:27; Is 24:13; 27:12; Ob 5; Rm 11:19
as if an olive tree had been beaten —
two or three berries at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the Lord,
the God of Israel.
7On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. # Is 1:4 8They will not look to the altars # 2Ch 34:7; Is 27:9 they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars # Ex 34:13; Dt 7:5; Mc 5:14 they made with their fingers.
9On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops # Some Hb mss read like the Horesh and the Amir ; LXX reads like the Amorites and the Hivites
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to remember
the rock of your strength; # Dt 6:12; 8:11,14,19; 32:18; Jdg 3:7; 1Sm 12:9; Ps 106:21; Is 8:14; 26:4; 51:13; Jr 3:21; 13:25; Ezk 22:12; 23:35; Hs 2:13
therefore you will plant beautiful plants
and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
11On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.
Judgment against the Nations
12Ah! The roar of many peoples —
they roar like the roaring of the seas.
The raging of the nations —
they rage like the raging of mighty waters. # Ps 93:1-5; Is 8:9-10; Lk 21:25
13The nations rage like the raging of many waters. # Is 33:3
He rebukes them, and they flee far away, # Ps 9:5; Is 41:11
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills # Jb 21:18; Ps 1:4; 83:13; Is 29:5; 41:15-16
and like tumbleweeds before a gale.
14In the evening — sudden terror!
Before morning — it is gone!
This is the fate of those who plunder us
and the lot of those who ravage us.
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Isaiah 17: HCSB
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Isaiah 17
17
Damascus Will Be Punished
1 #
Jr 49.23-27; Am 1.3-5; Zec 9.1. This is a message about Damascus:
Damascus is doomed!
It will end up in ruins.
2The villages around Aroer#17.2 Aroer: Either a city near Damascus with the same name as the Moabite city or the Moabite city itself, here used as an example of what will happen to Damascus.
will be deserted,
with only sheep living there
and no one to bother them.
3Israel#17.3 Israel: The Hebrew text has “Ephraim,” another name for the northern kingdom. will lose its fortresses.
The kingdom of Damascus
will be destroyed;
its survivors will suffer
the same fate as Israel.
The Lord All-Powerful
has promised this.
Sin and Suffering
4When that time comes,
the glorious nation of Israel
will be brought down;
its prosperous people
will be skin and bones.
5Israel will be like wheat fields
in Rephaim Valley
picked clean of grain.
6It will be like an olive tree
beaten with a stick,
leaving two or three olives
or maybe four or five
on the highest
or most fruitful branches.
The Lord God of Israel
has promised this.
7At that time the people will turn and trust their Creator, the holy God of Israel. 8They have built altars and places for burning incense to their goddess Asherah, and they have set up sacred poles#17.8 sacred poles: Or “trees,” used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility. for her. But they will stop worshiping at these places.
9Israel captured powerful cities and chased out the people who lived there. But these cities will lie in ruins, covered over with weeds and underbrush.#17.9 covered … underbrush: Hebrew; one ancient translation “like the cities of the Hivites and the Amorites.”
10Israel, you have forgotten
the God who saves you,
the one who is the mighty rock#17.10 mighty rock: The Hebrew text has “rock,” which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the Lord to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.
where you find protection.
You plant the finest flowers
to honor a foreign god.
11The plants may sprout
and blossom
that very same morning,
but it will do you no good,
because you will suffer
endless agony.
God Defends His People
12The nations are a noisy,
thunderous sea.
13But even if they roar
like a fearsome flood,
God will give the command
to turn them back.
They will be like dust,
or like a tumbleweed
blowing across the hills
in a windstorm.
14In the evening
their attack is fierce,
but by morning
they are destroyed.
This is what happens to those
who raid and rob us.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.