IsaiahChapter 17

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¹This is the message of judgment against Damascus:
"Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a pile of ruins.a ²The cities of Aroer are left empty.
They will be left for the flocks.
The flocks will lie down there, and no one will scare them. ³The fortress will be gone from Ephraim.
The power to rule will be gone from Damascus.
The few left in Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,"
says the LORD of Hosts. ⁴"On that day the glory of Jacob will fade.
The fat on his body will waste away. ⁵It will be like a reaper gathering the standing grain.
He harvests the heads of grain with his arm.
It will be like someone picking up leftover grain
in the Valley of Rephaim. ⁶Yet some leftovers will remain.
It will be like an olive tree that has been beaten.
Two or three olives are left at the very top.
Four or five are left on its fruitful branches,"
says the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁷On that day people will look to their Maker.
They will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. ⁸They will not look to the altars they made with their hands.
They will not look to the Asherah poles and incense altars
they made with their fingers. ⁹On that day their strong cities will be like empty thickets and hilltops.
They were left behind for the Israelites.
They will be totally ruined. ¹⁰For you have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered the Rock where you are safe.
So even though you plant lovely gardens
and set out cuttings from foreign vines, ¹¹even though on the day you plant you make them grow,
and that same morning you help your seeds sprout,
the harvest will be gone
in a day of sickness and pain that cannot be cured. ¹²Oh, the uproar of many peoples!
They roar like the roaring seas.
Oh, the noise of the nations!
They rumble like the crashing of mighty waters. ¹³The nations roar like the rush of many waters.
But God scolds them, and they run far away.
They are blown by the wind like husks on the hills.
They are like tumbleweeds before a storm. ¹⁴In the evening, there is sudden terror!
Before morning, they are gone!
This is what happens to those who rob us.
This is the share of those who steal from us.