Isaiah 17–18

Messages About Damascus and Israel

17Here is a message the Lord gave me about Damascus. He said,

“Damascus will not be a city anymore.

Instead, all of its buildings will be knocked down.

²The cities of Aroer will be deserted.

They will be left to the flocks that lie down there.

No one will make them afraid.

³Ephraim’s people will no longer have cities with high walls around them.

Royal power will disappear from Damascus.

Those who are left alive in Aram

will be like the glory of the people of Israel,”

announces the Lord who rules over all.

⁴“In days to come, the glory of Jacob’s people will fade.

Their strength will get weaker and weaker.

⁵It will be as when a worker cuts and gathers grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

He gathers up stalks with his arms.

Only a few heads of grain are left.

⁶In the same way, only a few people will be left alive.

It will be as when workers knock olives off the trees.

Only two or three olives are left on the highest branches.

Four or five at most are left on the limbs that produce fruit,”

announces the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷In days to come, men will look to their Maker for help.

They will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸They won’t trust in the altars

they made with their own hands.

They won’t pay any attention to the poles they used

to worship the goddess Asherah.

And they won’t depend on the incense altars

they made with their own fingers.

⁹At that time the strong cities in Israel will be deserted. They will be as they were when the Israelites drove the Canaanites out of them. They will be like places that are taken over by bushes and weeds. The whole land will become dry and empty.

¹⁰Israel, you have forgotten God, who saves you.

You have not remembered the Rock, who keeps you safe.

You might set out the finest plants.

You might plant vines from other lands.

¹¹The plants might start to grow on the day you set them out.

The vines might begin to bud on the morning you plant them.

But even if they do, there won’t be any harvest.

Instead, there will be sickness and pain that won’t go away.

¹²How terrible it looks for us!

Many nations are marching against us.

The noise of their armies is like the sound of the ocean.

They are making a lot of noise.

It sounds like huge waves crashing on the shore.

¹³It sounds like the roar of rushing waters.

But when the Lord speaks out against them, they run far away.

The wind blows them away like straw on the hills.

A strong wind drives them along like tumbleweeds.

¹⁴In the evening, the nations terrify us.

But before morning comes, they are gone.

That’s what happens to those who steal our goods.

That’s what happens to those who take what belongs to us.

A Message About Cush

18How terrible it will be for the land

whose armies are like large numbers of flying insects!

That land is along the rivers of Cush.

²Its people send messengers on the Nile River.

They travel over the water in papyrus boats.

Messengers, hurry back home!

Go back to your people,

who are tall and have smooth skin.

Everyone is afraid of them.

They are warriors.

Their language is different from ours.

Their land is divided up by rivers.

³Pay attention, all you people of the world!

Listen, all you who live on earth!

Banners will be lifted up on the mountains.

And you will see them.

Trumpets will be blown.

And you will hear them.

⁴The Lord says to me,

“I will look down from heaven, where I live.

I will be as quiet as summer heat in the sunshine.

I will be as quiet as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

⁵A farmer cuts off new growth with pruning knives.

He cuts down spreading branches and takes them away.

He does it before the grapes are harvested.

That’s when the blooms are gone and the grapes are ripe.

In the same way, the Lord will cut off the nations

that are gathered against his people.

⁶Their dead bodies will be left for the birds of the mountains to eat.

They will be left for the wild animals.

The birds will eat the dead bodies all summer long.

The wild animals will eat them all through the winter.

⁷At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord who rules over all.

The people who are tall and have smooth skin will bring them.

Everyone is afraid of those people.

They are warriors. Their language is different from ours.

Their land is divided up by rivers.

They will bring their gifts to Mount Zion. That’s where the Lord who rules over all has put his Name.