Isaiah 17

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

1This is a message about Damascus: Look, Damascus will no longer be a city; it will become a pile of ruins.

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

2The towns of Aroer will be deserted; they will be places for flocks to lie down, with no one to frighten them away.

3And the fortress 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 Jehovah of hosts.

3The fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, and the royal power will leave Damascus. The survivors of Syria will end up with as little honor as the people of Israel, says the LORD of Armies.

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

4At that time, the glory of Jacob will fade away, and his healthy body will grow thin.

5And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing grain, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

5It will be like when a harvester gathers the standing grain and cuts the ears with his arm, or like someone picking up leftover grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

6Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel.

6Only a few people will be left, like the few olives left after an olive tree is shaken—two or three berries at the very top, or four or five on the outer branches of a fruitful tree, says the LORD, the God of Israel.

7In that day shall men look unto their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

7In that day, people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

8And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they have respect to that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images.

8They will no longer look to the altars they made with their own hands; they will have no respect for what their fingers have produced—the poles for the goddess Asherah or the incense altars.

9In that day shall their strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it shall be a desolation.

9In that day, their strong cities will be like the abandoned places in the woods and on the mountaintops that were left behind when the Israelites arrived; everything will be a wasteland.

10For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore thou plantest pleasant plants, and settest it with strange slips.

10This is because you have forgotten the God who saves you and have not remembered the Rock who protects you. So even though you plant beautiful plants and set out imported grapevines,

11In the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom; but the harvest fleeth away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

11and though you make them grow on the day you plant them and make them bud the next morning, the harvest will disappear in the day of disease and incurable pain.

12Ah, the uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

12Listen! The noise of many nations is like the roaring of the seas; the shouting of people is like the crashing of mighty waves!

13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

13The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but God will rebuke them and they will flee far away. They will be chased like chaff on the hills blown by the wind, or like tumbling weeds before a storm.

14At eventide, behold, terror; and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

14In the evening, there is sudden terror, but before morning comes, they are gone. This is what happens to those who loot us and the fate of those who rob us.