Chapter 17

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away⁹⁴ from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The cities of Aroer [are] forsaken:⁷ they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down,¹ and none shall make [them] afraid.⁵⁶

The fortress also shall cease⁸ from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith⁷ the LORD of hosts.

And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of Jacob shall be made thin,¹¹ and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.¹¹

And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth² the corn, and reapeth⁴ the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth¹⁸ ears in the valley of Rephaim.

Yet gleaning grapes shall be left⁸ 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 fruitful⁶ branches thereof, saith⁷ the LORD God of Israel.

At that day shall a man look⁴ to his Maker,⁶ and his eyes shall have respect⁴ to the Holy One of Israel.

And he shall not look⁴ to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect⁴ [that] which his fingers have made,¹ either the groves, or the images.

In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken⁷ bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left¹ because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

Because thou hast forgotten¹ the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful¹ of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant⁴ pleasant plants, and shalt set⁴ it with strange⁵ slips:

In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow,⁴⁶ and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish:⁵⁵ [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief¹² and of desperate⁷ sorrow.

Woe to the multitude of many people, [which] make a noise⁴ like the noise² of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, [that] make a rushing¹¹ like the rushing of mighty waters!

The nations shall rush¹¹ like the rushing of many waters: but [God] shall rebuke¹ them, and they shall flee¹ far off, and shall be chased²⁷ as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

And behold at eveningtide ⁶¹⁵³ trouble; [and] before the morning he [is] not. This [is] the portion of them that spoil⁶ us, and the lot of them that rob⁶ us.