Isaiah 17
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 17
Damascus
1 Oracle on Damascus:[a]
See, Damascus shall cease to be a city
and become a pile of ruins;(A)
2 Her cities shall be forever abandoned,
for flocks to lie in undisturbed.
3 The fortress shall vanish from Ephraim[b]
and dominion from Damascus;
The remnant of Aram shall become like the glory
of the Israelites—
oracle of the Lord of hosts.
4 On that day
The glory of Jacob shall fade,
and his full body shall grow thin.(B)
5 Like the reaper’s mere armful of stalks,
when he gathers the standing grain;
Or as when one gleans the ears
in the Valley of Rephaim.[c]
6 [d]Only gleanings shall be left in it,
as when an olive tree has been beaten—
Two or three olives at the very top,
four or five on its most fruitful branches—
oracle of the Lord, the God of Israel.(C)
7 On that day people shall turn to their maker,
their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.(D)
8 They shall not turn to the altars, the work of their hands,
nor shall they look to what their fingers have made:
the asherahs[e] or the incense stands.
9 On that day his strong cities shall be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites
When faced with the Israelites;
and there shall be desolation.(E)
10 Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you,
the Rock, your refuge, you have not remembered.(F)
Therefore, though you plant plants for the Pleasant One,[f]
and set out cuttings for a foreign one,(G)
11 Though you make them grow the day you plant them
and make them blossom the morning you set them out,
The harvest shall disappear on a day of sickness
and incurable pain.
12 Ah! the roaring of many peoples—[g]
a roar like the roar of the seas!
The thundering of nations—
thunder like the thundering of mighty waters!(H)
13 [h]But God shall rebuke them,
and they shall flee far away,
Driven like chaff on the mountains before a wind,
like tumbleweed before a storm.(I)
14 At evening, there is terror,
but before morning, they are gone!
Such is the portion of those who despoil us,
the lot of those who plunder us.(J)
Footnotes
- 17:1 Damascus: capital of Aram or Syria, conquered by Tiglath-pileser III at the end of the Syro-Ephraimite War in 732 B.C.
- 17:3 Ephraim: Israel, leagued with Aram against Judah in the Syro-Ephraimite War. Assyria ravaged and captured most of Israelite territory in 734–733 B.C. Like the glory of the Israelites: the remnant of Aram will be no more impressive than the pitiful remnant of the Northern Kingdom.
- 17:5 Valley of Rephaim: a fertile plain just to the southwest of Jerusalem (cf. Jos 15:8; 2 Sm 5:18). Since it was near a large population center, the fields there would be thoroughly gleaned by the poor after the harvest, leaving very few ears of grain.
- 17:6 Olives not easily picked by hand were knocked from the tree by means of a long stick; cf. 24:13.
- 17:8 Asherahs: see note on Ex 34:13. Incense stands: small altars on which incense was burned; cf. Is 27:9; Lv 26:30.
- 17:10 The Pleasant One: an epithet for a foreign god of fertility, probably Adonis, in whose honor saplings were planted.
- 17:12 Many peoples: the hordes that accompanied the invading Assyrians, whom God repels just as he vanquished the primeval waters of chaos; see notes on Jb 3:8; 7:12; Ps 89:11.
- 17:13–14 The passage seems to evoke the motif of invincibility, part of the early Zion tradition that Jerusalem could not be conquered because God protected it (Ps 48:1–8).
以赛亚书 17
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
预示大马士革必被废弃
17 论大马士革的默示。
“看哪，大马士革已被废弃，不再为城，必变做乱堆。 2 亚罗珥的城邑已被撇弃，必成为牧羊之处，羊在那里躺卧，无人惊吓。 3 以法莲不再有保障，大马士革不再有国权，亚兰所剩下的必像以色列人的荣耀消灭一样。”这是万军之耶和华说的。
预言遗民归主
4 “到那日，雅各的荣耀必致枵薄，他肥胖的身体必渐瘦弱。 5 就必像收割的人收敛禾稼，用手割取穗子，又像人在利乏音谷拾取遗落的穗子。 6 其间所剩下的不多，好像人打橄榄树，在尽上的枝梢上只剩两三个果子，在多果树的旁枝上只剩四五个果子。”这是耶和华以色列的神说的。 7 当那日，人必仰望造他们的主，眼目重看以色列的圣者。 8 他们必不仰望祭坛，就是自己手所筑的，也不重看自己指头所做的，无论是木偶是日像。 9 在那日，他们的坚固城必像树林中和山顶上所撇弃的地方，就是从前在以色列人面前被人撇弃的，这样地就荒凉了。
遗忘神者必遭丧亡
10 因你忘记救你的神，不记念你能力的磐石，所以你栽上佳美的树秧子，插上异样的栽子， 11 栽种的日子你周围圈上篱笆，又到早晨使你所种的开花，但在愁苦极其伤痛的日子，所收割的都飞去了。
敌以色列者必被斥逐
12 唉！多民哄嚷，好像海浪砰訇；列邦奔腾，好像猛水滔滔。 13 列邦奔腾，好像多水滔滔，但神斥责他们，他们就远远逃避，又被追赶，如同山上的风前糠，又如暴风前的旋风土。 14 到晚上有惊吓，未到早晨他们就没有了。这是掳掠我们之人所得的份，是抢夺我们之人的报应。
Isaiah 17
Good News Translation
God Will Punish Syria and Israel
17 (A)The Lord said, “Damascus will not be a city any longer; it will be only a pile of ruins. 2 The cities of Syria will be deserted forever.[a] They will be a pasture for sheep and cattle, and no one will drive them away. 3 Israel will be defenseless, and Damascus will lose its independence. Those Syrians who survive will be in disgrace like the people of Israel. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
4 The Lord said, “A day is coming when Israel's greatness will come to an end, and its wealth will be replaced by poverty. 5 Israel will be like a field where the grain has been cut and harvested, as desolate as a field in Rephaim Valley when it has been picked bare. 6 Only a few people will survive, and Israel will be like an olive tree from which all the olives have been picked except two or three at the very top, or a few that are left on the lower branches. I, the Lord God of Israel, have spoken.”
7 When that day comes, people will turn for help to their Creator, the holy God of Israel. 8 They will no longer rely on the altars they made with their own hands, or trust in their own handiwork—symbols of the goddess Asherah and altars for burning incense.
9 When that day comes, well-defended cities will be deserted and left in ruins like the cities that the Hivites and the Amorites[b] abandoned as they fled from the people of Israel.
10 Israel, you have forgotten the God who rescues you and protects you like a mighty rock. Instead, you plant sacred gardens[c] in order to worship a foreign god. 11 But even if they sprouted and blossomed the very morning you planted them, there would still be no harvest. There would be only trouble and incurable pain.
Enemy Nations Are Defeated
12 Powerful nations are in commotion with a sound like the roar of the sea, like the crashing of huge waves. 13 The nations advance like rushing waves, but God reprimands them and they retreat, driven away like dust on a mountainside, like straw in a whirlwind. 14 At evening they cause terror, but by morning they are gone. That is the fate of everyone who plunders our land.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:2 One ancient translation The cities … forever; Hebrew The cities of Aroer are deserted.
- Isaiah 17:9 One ancient translation the Hivites and the Amorites; Hebrew woodland and hill country.
- Isaiah 17:10 See 1.29.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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