Isaiah 17:8-10
Contemporary English Version
8 They have built altars and places for burning incense to their goddess Asherah, and they have set up sacred poles[a] for her. But they will stop worshiping at these places.
9 Israel captured powerful cities and chased out the people who lived there. But these cities will lie in ruins, covered over with weeds and underbrush.[b]
10 Israel, you have forgotten
the God who saves you,
the one who is the mighty rock[c]
where you find protection.
You plant the finest flowers
to honor a foreign god.
Footnotes
- 17.8 sacred poles: Or “trees,” used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility.
- 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.
Isaiah 17:8-10
New International Version
8 They will not look to the altars,(A)
the work of their hands,(B)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[a](C)
and the incense altars their fingers(D) 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.(E) And all will be desolation.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
Isaiah 17:8-10
Expanded Bible
8 They will not trust the altars ·they have made [L the work of their hands],
nor will they trust what their ·hands [L fingers] have made,
not even the ·Asherah idols [L Asherahs; C sacred trees or poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah] and ·altars [incense altars].
9 ·At that time [L In that day] all their strong cities will be empty. They will be like the ·cities the Hivites and [or wooded heights] the Amorites left when the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] came to take the land. Everything will be ruined.
10 You have forgotten the God who ·saves [rescues] you;
you have not remembered ·that God is your place of safety [L the Rock, your stronghold/strength].
You plant ·the finest [beautiful; pleasant] plants
and grapevines from ·faraway [exotic; foreign] places.
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