Isaiah 17
17
Oracle of Judgment on Damascus
1An oracle of Damascus:
“Look! Damascus will cease being a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2The cities of Aroer will be deserted;#These words in Hebrew (and “flocks” in the next line) all begin with the same letter, Ayin
they will be for the flocks,
and they will lie down and no one will frighten#Literally “there is not one who frightens” them.
3And the fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel,”
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh of hosts.
4“And this shall happen:
On that day, the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will become lean.
5And it shall be as when a reaper gathers#Literally “a gathering of a reaper of” standing grain
and he reaps grain with his arm,
and it shall be like one who gathers ears of grain
in the valley of Rephaim.
6And gleanings will be left over in it, as when an olive tree is beaten,#Literally “beating of an olive tree”
two or three ripe olive berries in the top of a branch,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh, the God of Israel.
7On that day, mankind will look to its maker,
and its eyes will look to the holy one of Israel;
8it will not look to the altars,
the work of its hands,
and it will not see what its fingers made
and the poles of Asherah worship and the incense altars.
9On that day, its fortified cities#Literally “the cities of his fortress” will be like the abandonment of the wooded place and the summit,#Perhaps this difficult phrase originally read “abandonment of the wooded heights of the Amorites” which they deserted because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge;
therefore you plant plants of pleasantness,
and you plant#Literally “plant it” a vine of a foreigner.
11On your planting day you make them grow,
and in the morning of your sowing you bring them into bloom,
yet the harvest will flee#Reading the same consonants as a verb, nad, rather than the noun ned, which would mean “a heap ofthe harvest” in a day of sickness and incurable pain.
The Roar of the Peoples
12Ah! The noise of many peoples, they make a noise like the noise of the seas!
And the roar of nations, they roar like the roar of mighty waters!
13The nations roar like the roar of many waters,
but he will rebuke him, and he will flee far away.
And they are chased like chaff of the mountains before the wind
and like tumbleweed before the storm.
14At the time of evening, and look, terror!
Before morning he is no more.
This is the fate of those who plunder us
and the lot of those who plunder us.
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Isaiah 17: LEB
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Isaiah 17
17
God will Punish Syria and Israel
1 #
Jer 49.23–27; Amos 1.3–5; Zech 9.1 The LORD said, “Damascus will not be a city any longer; it will be only a pile of ruins. 2The cities of Syria will be deserted for ever.#17.2 One ancient translation The cities… for ever; Hebrew The cities of Aroer are deserted. They will be a pasture for sheep and cattle, and no one will drive them away. 3Israel will be defenceless, and Damascus will lose its independence. Those Syrians who survive will be in disgrace like the people of Israel. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.”
4The LORD said, “A day is coming when Israel's greatness will come to an end, and its wealth will be replaced by poverty. 5Israel will be like a field where the corn has been cut and harvested, as desolate as a field in the valley of Rephaim when it has been picked bare. 6Only a few people will survive, and Israel will be like an olive tree from which all the olives have been picked except two or three at the very top, or a few that are left on the lower branches. I, the LORD God of Israel, have spoken.”
7When that day comes, people will turn for help to their Creator, the holy God of Israel. 8They will no longer rely on the altars they made with their own hands, or trust in their own handiwork — symbols of the goddess Asherah and altars for burning incense.
9When that day comes, well-defended cities will be deserted and left in ruins like the cities that the Hivites and the Amorites#17.9 One ancient translation the Hivites and the Amorites; Hebrew woodland and hill country. abandoned as they fled from the people of Israel.
10Israel, you have forgotten the God who rescues you and who protects you like a mighty rock. Instead, you plant sacred gardens#17.10 sacred gardens: See 1.29. in order to worship a foreign god. 11But even if they sprouted and blossomed the very morning you planted them, there would still be no harvest. There would be only trouble and incurable pain.
Enemy Nations are Defeated
12Powerful nations are in commotion with a sound like the roar of the sea, like the crashing of huge waves. 13The nations advance like rushing waves, but God reprimands them and they retreat, driven away like dust on a hillside, like straw in a whirlwind. 14In the evening they cause terror, but by morning they are gone. That is the fate of everyone who plunders our land.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.