Esias 17

1 THE WORD AGAINST DAMASCUS. Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among cities, and shall become a ruin;

A declaration about Damascus.

2 abandoned for ever, to [be] a fold and resting-place for flocks, and there shall be none to go after them.

The cities of Aroer will be abandoned. They will be places for flocks to lie down, and no one will frighten them.

3 And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for you are no better than the children of Israel, [even] than their glory; thus says the Lord of hosts.

Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram—they will be like the glory of the people of Israel—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts.

4 There shall be in that day a failure of the glory of Jacob, and the riches of his glory shall be shaken.

It will come about on that day that the glory of Jacob will become thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

5 And it shall be as if one should gather standing corn, and reap the grain of the ears; and it shall be as if one should gather ears in a rich valley;

It will be as when a harvester gathers the standing grain, and his arm reaps the heads of grain. It will be as when one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

6 and [as if] there should be left stubble therein, or [as it were] the berries of an olive tree, two or three on the topmost bough, or [as if] four or five should be left on their branches; thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.

Gleanings will be left, however, as when the olive tree is shaken: two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the highest branches of a fruitful tree—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

7 In that day a man shall trust in him that made him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

On that day men will look toward their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

8 And they shall not at all trust in their altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they shall not look to the trees, nor to their abominations.

They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, nor will they look to what their fingers have made, the Asherah poles or the sun images.

9 In that day your cities shall be deserted, as the Amorites and the Evaeans deserted [theirs], because of the children of Israel; and they shall be desolate.

On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned wooded slopes on the hill summits, that were forsaken because of the people of Israel and that will become a desolation.

10 Because you have forsaken God your Saviour, and have not been mindful of the Lord your helper; therefore shall you plant a false plant, and a false seed.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have ignored the rock of your strength. So you plant pleasant plants, and set out vine branches received from a stranger,

11 In the day wherein you shall plant you shall be deceived; but if you sow in the morning, [the seed] shall spring up for a crop in the day wherein you shall obtain an inheritance, and as a man's father, you shall obtain an inheritance for your sons.

on the day you plant and hedge and cultivate. Soon your seed will grow, but the harvest will fail on a day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Woe [to] the multitude of many nations, as the swelling sea, so shall you be confounded; and the force of many nations shall sound like water;

Woe! The uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

13 many nations like much water, as when much water rushes violently: and they shall drive him away, and pursue him afar, as the dust of chaff when men winnow before the wind, and as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel.

The nations will roar like the rushing of many waters, but he will rebuke them and they will flee far away, they will be chased before the wind like chaff on the mountains, and like weeds whirling before a storm.

14 Toward evening, and there shall be grief; before the morning, and he shall not be. This is the portion of them that spoiled you, and the inheritance to them that robbed you of your inheritance.

In the evening, see, terror! Before the morning they will be gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who rob us.