ישעיהו י״זIsaiah 17

The “Damascus” Pronouncement.
Behold,
Damascus shall cease to be a city;
It shall become a heap of ruins.

The towns of Aroer shall be deserted;
They shall be a place for flocks
To lie down, with none disturbing.

Fortresses shall cease from Ephraim,
And sovereignty from Damascus;
The remnant of Aram shall become
Like the mass of Israelites
—declares GOD of Hosts.

In that day,
The mass of Jacob shall dwindle,
And the fatness of his body become lean:

After being like the standing grain
Harvested by the reaper—
Who reaps ears by the armful—
He shall be like the ears that are gleaned
In the Valley of Rephaim.

Only gleanings shall be left of him,
As when one beats an olive tree:
Two berries or three on the topmost branch,
Four or five on the boughs of the crown
—declares the ETERNAL, the God of Israel.

In that day, people shall turn to their Maker, their eyes look to the Holy One of Israel;

they shall not turn to the altars that their own hands made, or look to the sacred posts and incense stands that their own fingers wrought.

In that day, their fortress cities shall be like the deserted sites that the Horesh and the Amir abandoned because of the Israelites; and there shall be desolation.

Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you
And have not remembered the Rock who shelters you;
That is why, though you plant a delightful sapling,
What you sow proves a disappointing slip.

On the day that you plant, you see it grow;
On the morning you sow, you see it bud—
But the branches wither away
On a day of sickness and mortal agony.

Ah, the roar of many peoples
That roar as roars the sea,
The rage of nations that rage
As rage the mighty waters—

Nations raging like massive waters!
But [God] shouts at them, and they flee far away,
Driven like chaff before winds in the hills,
And like tumbleweed before a gale.

At eventide, lo, terror!
By morning, it is no more.
Such is the lot of our despoilers,
The portion of them that plunder us.