Isaiah 17
Legacy Standard Bible
An Oracle Concerning Damascus
17 The [a](A)oracle 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 [b]of (E)Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for (F)flocks, and they will lie down in them;
And there will be (G)no one to cause them to tremble.
3 And the [c](H)fortified city will cease 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 Yahweh of hosts.
4 Now it will be in that day, that the (J)glory of Jacob will [e]wane,
And (K)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 And it will be (L)even like the [f]reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears of grain,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the (M)valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet (N)gleanings will remain in it like the [g]shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost branch,
Four or five on the twigs of a fruitful tree,
Declares Yahweh, the God of Israel.
7 In that day man will (O)have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 He will not have regard for 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 [i]incense stands.
9 In that day [j]their strong cities will be like [k]forsaken places in the forest,
Or like [l]branches which they forsook before the sons of Israel;
And [m]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 strong defense.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine branches of a strange god.
11 In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the (V)morning you cause your seed to flourish;
But the harvest will (W)be a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.
12 Alas, the uproar of many peoples
(X)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rumble 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 pursued (AB)like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a whirlwind.
14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning (AC)they are no more.
[n]Such will be the portion of those who pillage us
And the lot of those who plunder us.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:1 Or burden of
- Isaiah 17:2 Gr forever and ever
- Isaiah 17:3 Or fortification
- Isaiah 17:3 Or royal power, kingdom
- Isaiah 17:4 Lit become thin
- Isaiah 17:5 Lit gathering of the harvest, the standing grain
- Isaiah 17:6 Lit striking
- Isaiah 17:8 Wooden symbols of a female deity
- Isaiah 17:8 Or sun pillars
- Isaiah 17:9 Man’s
- Isaiah 17:9 Gr the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
- Isaiah 17:9 Or the treetop
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
- Isaiah 17:14 Lit This
Isaiah 17
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Prophecy Against Damascus and Israel
17 An oracle against Damascus.
Soon Damascus will no longer be a city.
It will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
They will be places for flocks.
The flocks will lie down,
and no one will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus.
What remains of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel,
declares the Lord of Armies.
4 On that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
and his sturdy body will waste away.
5 It will be like the time when a reaper has gathered the standing grain,
and his arm has reaped the heads of grain,
when someone gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim,
6 and a few gleanings are still left there,
or when the branches of an olive tree have been beaten,
and only two or three ripe olives are left on the top of the highest bough,
or four or five remain on the fruitful branches,
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day people will trust in their Maker,
and they will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their own hands.
They will not respect what their fingers have made,
neither the Asherah poles nor the altars for incense.
9 On that day Israel’s strong cities will be
like the forsaken hilltops of the Amorites,[a]
like the places that were abandoned when the people of Israel
first came.
They will be desolate.
10 You have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered the Rock who is your strength.
Therefore, although you set out the best quality plants,
and you plant cuttings from imported vines,
11 and you put a fence around them on the day you plant them,
and you get your seed to sprout in the morning,
nevertheless, the harvest will come to nothing
in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.[b]
12 Oh, the roar of many peoples!
They roar like the raging seas.
Oh, the uproar of nations!
It sounds like huge, crashing waves!
13 The nations will roar like the crashing of great waves,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away.
They will be driven off the mountains like wind-blown chaff,
like a tumbleweed blown about in a storm.
14 In the evening, terror rushes in!
Before morning they are gone.
This will be the reward for those who plunder us,
the lot of those who rob us.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:9 The Hebrew reads like the abandonment of the wooded height and the top one. The Greek Old Testament reads the forsaken places of the Amorites and Horites.
- Isaiah 17:11 These verses are difficult and translations vary.
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