Isaiah 17
New American Standard Bible
Prophecy about Damascus
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.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:2 LXX forever and ever
- Isaiah 17:2 Lit and they will lie down
- Isaiah 17:3 Or fortification
- Isaiah 17:3 Or royal power
- Isaiah 17:4 Lit become little
- Isaiah 17:5 Lit gathering of the harvest, the standing grain
- Isaiah 17:6 Lit striking
- Isaiah 17:8 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit his; i.e., mankind’s
- Isaiah 17:9 LXX the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
- Isaiah 17:14 Lit portion
Isaiah 17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
An Oracle concerning Damascus
17 An oracle concerning Damascus.
See, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.(A)
2 Her towns will be deserted forever;[a]
they will be places for flocks,
which will lie down, and no one will make them afraid.(B)
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim
and the kingdom from Damascus,
and the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the people of Israel,
says the Lord of hosts.(C)
4 On that day
the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.(D)
5 And it shall be as when reapers gather standing grain
and their arms harvest the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.(E)
6 Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
says the Lord God of Israel.(F)
7 On that day people will look to their Maker, with their eyes on the Holy One of Israel;(G) 8 they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred poles[b] or the altars of incense.(H)
9 On that day their fortified cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites,[c] which they deserted because of the people of Israel, and there will be desolation.(I)
10 For you have forgotten God your Savior
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant gardens
and set out branches of a foreign god,(J)
11 though you make them grow on the day that you plant them
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of sickness and incurable pain.(K)
12 Woe, the thunder of many peoples,
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
The roar of nations,
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!(L)
13 [[When the nations roar like the roaring of many waters,]][d]
he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and like whirling dust before the storm.(M)
14 At evening time, sudden terror!
Before morning, they are no more.
This is the fate of those who despoil us
and the lot of those who plunder us.(N)
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.