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“In that day Israel’s[a] glory will grow dim;
    its robust body will waste away.
The whole land will look like a grainfield
    after the harvesters have gathered the grain.
It will be desolate,
    like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
Only a few of its people will be left,
    like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.
Only two or three remain in the highest branches,
    four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,”
    declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

Then at last the people will look to their Creator
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
They will no longer look to their idols for help
    or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
    or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.

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Footnotes

  1. 17:4 Hebrew Jacob’s. See note on 14:1.

Judgment against Israel

On that day
the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and his healthy body[a] will become emaciated.(A)
It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain—
his arm harvesting the heads of grain—
and as if one had gleaned heads of grain
in Rephaim Valley.(B)

Only gleanings will be left in Israel,(C)
as if an olive tree had been beaten—
two or three olives at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel.

On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.(D) They will not look to the altars(E) they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines[b](F) they made with their fingers.

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Footnotes

  1. 17:4 Lit and the fat of his flesh
  2. 17:8 Or incense altars