Isaiah, 17

1. The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

1. An oracle concerning Damascus: "Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.

2. The cities of Aroer [are] forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.

2. Her towns will be abandoned and left as pasture for flocks; there they will lie down afraid of no one. Damascus will no longer be a kingdom,

3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

3. so Ephraim will be left undefended. From now on the remnant of Aram will have no more power than the children of Israel." This is Yahweh Sabaoth speaking.

4. And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

4. On that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his flesh will waste away.

5. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

5. It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and lops off the stalks, or as when they gather the gleanings in the Valley of Rephaim.

6. Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two [or] three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four [or] five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

6. Yet some gleanings remain, as when an olive tree is beaten - two or three olives are left on the topmost bough, four or five on the fruitful branches, says Yahweh, the God of Israel.

7. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

7. On that day people will look to their Creator, their eyes turned to the Holy One of Israel.

8. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect [that] which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

8. They will no longer look to the altars, to the work of their hand, the sacred pole or the incense stand which their fingers have made.

9. In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

9. On that day your cities will be like the cities of the Hivites and the Amorites which they abandoned to the Israelites. All will be desolation.

10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

10. For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, you have failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. You may plant the finest plants, you may plant out imported shoots,

11. In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

11. you may make them grow on the day you plant them, you may make them blossom on the day you sow, yet they dwindle and the harvest is gone: then you may cry!

12. Woe to the multitude of many people, [which] make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, [that] make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

12. Oh, the rage of many peoples - they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the thunder of many nations - they thunder like the thundering of mighty waves!

13. The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but [God] shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

13. But God rebukes them, and they flee far away, swept away like chaff on the hills before the wind, whirled away like eddying dust before the thunderstorm.

14. And behold at eveningtide trouble; [and] before the morning he [is] not. This [is] the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

14. At eventide they sow terror; before morning they are no more. Such is the portion of our despoilers, such is the lot of our plunderers.