On that day [a]their strong cities will be like [b]abandoned places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And [c]the land will be a desolation.
10 For (A)you have forgotten the (B)God of your salvation
And have not remembered the (C)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 (D)morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will (E)flee
On a day of illness and incurable pain.

12 Oh, the uproar of many peoples
(F)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the (G)rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The (H)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will (I)rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
And be chased (J)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 (K)they are gone.
This will be the [d]fate of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:9 Lit his; i.e., mankind’s
  2. Isaiah 17:9 LXX the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
  3. Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
  4. Isaiah 17:14 Lit portion

On that day, their strong cities will be like those abandoned by the Hivites and the Amorites;[a] abandoned because of the Israelites. They will be a wasteland,

10 because you forgot the God who saves you,
    and didn’t remember the rock who shelters you.
Therefore, plant your pleasant plants,
    and set out exotic sprouts;
11     make them grow the day you plant them,
    and make them bloom the morning you start them.
But the harvest will disappear on a day of sickness and incurable pain.

12 Doom to the raging of many peoples;
    like the thundering seas they thunder.
    Doom to the roar of nations,
        like the roaring of mighty waters.
13     Nations roar like the roaring of rushing waters.
But God will rebuke them,
    and they will flee far away,
    pursued like chaff by wind in the mountains,
    like tumbleweeds before a storm.
14 In the evening, there is terror;
    but before morning it is gone.
This is the fate of those who loot us,
    the destiny of those who rob us.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:9 LXX; MT like the abandonment of the forest and the bough