Isaiah 17
1599 Geneva Bible
17 1 A prophecy of the destruction of Damascus and Ephraim, 7 calamity moveth to repentance.
1 The [a]burden of [b]Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, for it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of [c]Aroer shall be forsaken: they shall be for the flocks: for they shall lie there, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The munition also shall cease from [d]Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram shall be as the [e]glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day the glory of [f]Jacob shall be made clean.
5 And it shall be as when the harvest man gathereth [g]the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm, and he shall be as he that gathereth the ears in the valley of [h]Rephaim.
6 Yet a gathering of grapes shall [i]be left in it: as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries are in the top of the upmost boughs, and four or five in the high branches of the fruit thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his [j]maker, and his eyes shall look to the holy one of Israel.
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the works of his own hands, neither shall he look to those things which his own fingers have made, as groves and images.
9 In that day shall the cities of their strength be as the forsaking of boughs and branches, which [k]they did forsake, because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation.
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not remembered the God of thy strength, therefore shalt thou set pleasant plants, and shalt graft strange [l]vine branches.
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 gone in the day [m]of possession, and there shall be desperate sorrow.
12 [n]Ah, the multitude of many people, they shall make a sound like the noise of the sea: for the noise of the people shall make a sound like the noise of mighty waters.
13 The people shall make a sound like the noise of many waters: but God shall [o]rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And lo, in the evening there is [p]trouble: but afore the morning it is gone. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:1 Read Isa. 13:1.
- Isaiah 17:1 The chief city of Syria.
- Isaiah 17:2 It was a country of Syria by the river Arnon.
- Isaiah 17:3 It seemeth that the Prophet would comfort the Church in declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow of Judah.
- Isaiah 17:3 The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance with other nations: therefore he saith that they shall be brought down, and the Syrians also.
- Isaiah 17:4 Meaning, of the ten tribes, which boasted themselves of their nobility, prosperity, strength and multitude.
- Isaiah 17:5 As the abundance of corn doth not fear the harvest men that should cut it down: no more shall the multitude of Israel make the enemies to shrink, whom God shall appoint to destroy them.
- Isaiah 17:5 Which valley was plentiful and fertile.
- Isaiah 17:6 Because God would have his covenant stable, he promiseth to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to repentance.
- Isaiah 17:7 He showeth that God’s corrections ever bring forth some fruit, and cause his to turn from their sins, and to humble themselves to him.
- Isaiah 17:9 As the Canaanites left their cities when God did place the Israelites there, so the cities of Israel shall no more be able to defend their inhabitants than bushes, when God shall send the enemy to plague them.
- Isaiah 17:10 Which are excellent, and brought out of other countries.
- Isaiah 17:11 As the Lord threateneth the wicked in his Law, Lev. 26:16.
- Isaiah 17:12 The Prophet lamenteth, considering the horrible plague that was prepared against Israel by the Assyrians, which were infinite in number, and gathered of many nations.
- Isaiah 17:13 He addeth this for the consolation of the faithful which were in Israel.
- Isaiah 17:14 He compareth the enemies the Assyrians to a tempest, which riseth overnight, and in the morning is gone.
Isaiah 17
Complete Jewish Bible
17 This is a prophecy about Dammesek:
“Dammesek will soon stop being a city;
it will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of ‘Aro‘er will be abandoned,
given over to flocks lying down undisturbed.
3 Efrayim will have no defenses,
Dammesek will cease to rule,
and Aram’s survivors will share the fate
of Isra’el’s finest sons,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
4 “When that day comes, Ya‘akov’s glory will wane,
and his full body grow thin,
5 as when the harvester collects the standing grain,
reaping the ears of grain with his arm;
yes, as when they glean the grain
in the Refa’im Valley.
6 Yet gleanings will be left,
as when beating an olive tree —
two or three olives at the very top,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
says Adonai, the God of Isra’el.
7 On that day, a person will heed his Maker
and turn his eyes toward the Holy One of Isra’el.
8 He will pay no heed to the altars
made with his own hands,
he will not turn toward what his fingers made,
the sacred poles and standing-stones for sun-worship.
9 When that day comes, his strong cities,
which others abandoned when Isra’el advanced,
will be like abandoned woods and forests;
they will be laid waste.
10 For you have forgotten the God who saved you,
failed to remember the Rock of your strength;
so you plant pagan-style gardens
and set out vine-cuttings for a foreign god.
11 Though you make them grow on the day you plant them,
and in the morning your seedlings flower;
the crop will vanish the day disease comes,
a day of incurable pain.
12 Oh, the terror-stricken uproar of many peoples,
roaring like the roar of the seas,
and the rushing about of nations,
rushing and surging like wild, wild waters!
13 Yes, the nations will roar like the mighty ocean,
but he will rebuke them, and far will they flee,
driven like chaff by a mountain wind,
like whirling dust in advance of the storm.
14 As evening falls, you can see terror;
before sunrise, they have ceased to be.
This is the lot of those who plunder us,
the fate of those who prey on us.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.