Isaiah 17:4–11

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.