17 This is a message about Damascus:
‘Look! Damascus is no longer a city! It has become a heap of stones.
2 Nobody lives in the cities of Aroer. Sheep and goats can safely go there to eat. They can lie down there and nobody will chase them away. 3 There will be no strong cities in Ephraim. [ a ] No king will rule in Damascus. The few people who remain in Syria are no longer great, like Israel's people!’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
4 ‘At that time, Israel will no longer be great. It will be like a rich, fat person who becomes weak and hungry.
5 Israel will be like a field of grain in Rephaim valley after the harvest. The workers have cut down the crops. They have picked up the grain from the ground. 6 There will be only a few people that remain in Israel. They will be like a few olives that remain on a tree after the harvest. Perhaps two or three olives are still there on the highest branches. Four or five olives may remain on the other branches.’
That is what the Lord God of Israel says.
7 At that time, people will turn back to their Maker. They will trust the Holy God of Israel to help them.
8 They will no longer trust their idols to help them. They made altars for themselves, where they worshipped their gods. They worshipped Asherah at special poles. They made altars where they burned incense. But they will not do those things any more.
9 At that time, Israel's strong cities will be empty. People will run away from those cities, as the Amorites ran away from the hills when the Israelites attacked them. Israel's strong cities will become heaps of stones. 10 That will happen because you have forgotten the God who rescues you. He is the Rock where you can safely hide, but you have turned away from him. [ b ]
Instead, you plant the best plants and vines in your gardens. You buy them from foreign countries for a lot of money. 11 You take care of them so that they grow quickly. They may even make flowers on the same morning that you plant them! But you will never have any fruit from them. You will only get trouble and pain that will never go away.
12 It will be very bad for the armies of other nations! They are making a noise like the sea in a storm! They are as loud as powerful waves! 13 But it does not matter how much noise they make. Those people may roar like powerful waves, but the Lord will shout at them to stop. Then they will run far away! They will run like the wind as it blows chaff across the hills. It will be like a strong storm that carries away dead weeds!
14 Look at what happens! In the evening the enemy attacks, and we are very afraid. But by the morning they have disappeared! That is what happens to people who attack us. Anyone who tries to take away our valuable things for themselves will fail.
17 This is a message [ a ] about Damascus [ b ] :
“Damascus is now a city, but it will be destroyed.
Only ruined buildings will be left there.
2 People will leave the cities of Aroer. [ c ]
Flocks of sheep will wander freely in those empty towns;
there will be no one to bother them.
3 The fort cities of Ephraim will be destroyed.
The government in Damascus will be finished.
Those left in Aram will lose everything,
just like the people of Israel,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
4 “At that time Jacob’s wealth will all be gone.
Yes, Israel will be like a sick man who has become weak and thin.
5 “That time will be like the grain harvest in Rephaim Valley. [ d ] The workers gather the plants that grow in the field. Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants and collect the grain.
6 “That time will also be like the olive harvest. People knock olives from the trees, but a few olives are usually left at the top of each tree. Four or five olives are left on some of the top branches. It will be the same for those cities,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
7 Then the people will look up to the one who made them. Their eyes will see the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will not trust the great things they have made. They will not go to the special gardens [ e ] and altars [ f ] they made for false gods. 9 At that time all the walled cities will be empty. They will be like the mountains and the forests [ g ] in the land before the Israelites came. In the past, all the people ran away because the Israelites were coming. In the future, the country will be empty again. 10 This will happen because you have forgotten the God who saves you. You have not remembered that God is your place of safety.
You brought some very good grapevines from faraway places. You might plant those grapevines, but they will not grow. 11 You will plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow, and the next day they will blossom. But at harvest time, you will go to gather the fruit from the plants, and you will see that everything is dead. A sickness will kill all the plants.
12 Listen to all these people!
Their loud crying sounds like the noise from the sea.
Listen, it is like the crashing of waves in the sea.
13 And like the waves,
they will rush away when God speaks harshly to them.
They will be like chaff blown away by the wind.
They will be like weeds chased by a storm.
14 That night, the people will be frightened.
By morning, nothing will be left.
So our enemies will get nothing.
They will come to our land, but nothing will be there.
17 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
17 The ( A ) pronouncement concerning ( B ) Damascus:
“Behold, Damascus is about to be ( C ) removed from being a city
And will become a ( D ) fallen ruin.
2 The cities [ a ] of ( E ) Aroer are abandoned;
They will be for ( F ) herds [ b ] to lie down in,
And there will be ( G ) no one to frighten them .
3 The [ c ] ( H ) fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And [ d ] sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the ( I ) glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord of armies.
4 Now on that day the ( J ) glory of Jacob will [ e ] fade,
And ( K ) the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 It will be ( L ) like the [ f ] reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the ( M ) Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet ( N ) gleanings will be left in it like the [ g ] shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost branch,
Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree,
Declares the Lord , the God of Israel.
7 On that day man will ( O ) look to his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he will not look to the ( P ) altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his ( Q ) fingers have made,
Even the [ h ] ( R ) Asherim and incense altars.
9 On that day [ i ] their strong cities will be like [ j ] abandoned places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And [ k ] the land will be a desolation.
10 For ( S ) you have forgotten the ( T ) God of your salvation
And have not remembered the ( U ) rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine shoots of a strange god .
11 On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the ( V ) morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will ( W ) flee
On a day of illness and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the uproar of many peoples
( X ) Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the ( Y ) rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The ( Z ) nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will ( AA ) rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
And be chased ( AB ) like chaff on the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.
14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning ( AC ) they are gone.
This will be the [ l ] fate of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.
17 A prophecy ( A ) against Damascus: ( B )
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins. ( C )
2 The cities of Aroer ( D ) will be deserted
and left to flocks, ( E ) which will lie down, ( F )
with no one to make them afraid. ( G )
3 The fortified ( H ) city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory ( I ) of the Israelites,” ( J )
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day ( K ) the glory ( L ) of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste ( M ) away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering ( N ) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain ( O )
in the Valley of Rephaim. ( P )
6 Yet some gleanings will remain, ( Q )
as when an olive tree is beaten, ( R )
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord , the God of Israel.
7 In that day ( S ) people will look ( T ) to their Maker ( U )
and turn their eyes to the Holy One ( V ) of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars, ( W )
the work of their hands, ( X )
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles [ a ] ( Y )
and the incense altars their fingers ( Z ) have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. ( AA ) And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten ( AB ) God your Savior; ( AC )
you have not remembered the Rock, ( AD ) your fortress. ( AE )
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines, ( AF )
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning ( AG ) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest ( AH ) will be as nothing ( AI )
in the day of disease and incurable ( AJ ) pain. ( AK )
12 Woe to the many nations that rage ( AL ) —
they rage like the raging sea! ( AM )
Woe to the peoples who roar ( AN ) —
they roar like the roaring of great waters! ( AO )
13 Although the peoples roar ( AP ) like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes ( AQ ) them they flee ( AR ) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff ( AS ) on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale. ( AT )
14 In the evening, sudden ( AU ) terror! ( AV )
Before the morning, they are gone! ( AW )
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
