Isaiah 17
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
17 The mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning Damascus [capital of Syria, and Israel’s bulwark against Assyria]. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer [east of the Jordan] are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 His bulwark [Syria] and the fortress shall disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the [departed] glory of the children of Israel [her ally], says the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day the former glory of Jacob [Israel—his might, his population, his prosperity] shall be enfeebled, and the fat of his flesh shall become lean.
5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathers the standing grain and his arm harvests the ears; yes, it shall be as when one gathers the ears of grain in the fertile Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet gleanings [of grapes] shall be left in it [the land of Israel], as after the beating of an olive tree [with a stick], two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of the fruitful tree, says the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day will men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall regard the Holy One of Israel.
8 And they will not look to the [idolatrous] altars, the work of their hands, neither will they have respect for what their fingers have made—either the Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah] or the sun-images.
9 In that day will their [Syria’s and Israel’s] strong cities be like the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountaintop, as they [the [a]Amorites and the Hivites] forsook their [cities] because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.
10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation [O Judah] and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, your Stronghold—therefore, you have planted pleasant nursery grounds and plantings [to Adonis, pots of quickly withered flowers used to set by their doors or in the courts of temples], and have set [the grounds] with vine slips of a strange [God],
11 And in the day of your planting you hedge it in, and in the morning you make your seed to blossom, yet [promising as it is] the harvest shall be a heap of ruins and flee away in the day of expected possession and of desperate sorrow and sickening, incurable pain.
12 Hark, the uproar of a multitude of peoples! They roar and thunder like the noise of the seas! Ah, the roar of nations! They roar like the roaring of rushing and mighty waters!
13 The nations will rush and roar like the rushing and roaring of many waters—but [God] will rebuke them, and they will flee far off and will be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, and like rolling thistledown or whirling dust of the stubble before the storm.
14 At evening time, behold, terror! And [b]before the morning, they [the terrorizing Assyrians] are not. This is the portion of those who strip us [the Jews] of what belongs to us, and the lot of those who rob us. [Fulfilled in Isa. 37:36.]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:9 The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) so reads.
- Isaiah 17:14 Isaiah foretells (in Isa. 14:25) that God will break the Assyrian conqueror and tread him underfoot. Now (in Isa. 17:14) further details seem to be furnished—“terror” (because the enemy has all but been victorious), but “before the morning, they [the terrorizing Assyrians] are not.” The startling fulfillment of this prophecy (cf. also Isa. 10:33-34; 30:31; 31:8) is found in Isa. 37:36, following the repetition of the prophecy first recorded in II Kings 19:29-36. Just when an overwhelming victory by the Assyrian Sennacherib seemed inevitable, during a single night 185,000 of his army died, and Judah was spared—as the Lord through Isaiah had promised.
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
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.