Isaiah 17:9-11

Contemporary English Version

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.^[a]

¹⁰Israel, you have forgotten
    the God who saves you,
the one who is the mighty rock^[b]
    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.

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Footnotes

17.9 covered … underbrush: Hebrew; one ancient translation “like the cities of the Hivites and the Amorites.”
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.