Isaiah 17–18

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17A prophecy^b against Damascus:^c

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city

but will become a heap of ruins.^d

²The cities of Aroer^e will be deserted

and left to flocks,^f which will lie down,^g

with no one to make them afraid.^h

³The fortifiedⁱ city will disappear from Ephraim,

and royal power from Damascus;

the remnant of Aram will be

like the glory^j of the Israelites,”^k

declares the Lord Almighty.

⁴“In that day^l the glory^m of Jacob will fade;

the fat of his body will wasteⁿ away.

⁵It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,

gathering^o the grain in their arms—

as when someone gleans heads of grain^p

in the Valley of Rephaim.^q

⁶Yet some gleanings will remain,^r

as when an olive tree is beaten,^s

leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,

four or five on the fruitful boughs,”

declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷In that day^t people will look^u to their Maker^v

and turn their eyes to the Holy One^w of Israel.

⁸They will not look to the altars,^x

the work of their hands,^y

and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles^az

and the incense altars their fingers^a have made.

⁹In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.^b And all will be desolation.

¹⁰You have forgotten^c God your Savior;^d

you have not remembered the Rock,^e your fortress.^f

Therefore, though you set out the finest plants

and plant imported vines,^g

¹¹though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,

and on the morning^h when you plant them, you bring them to bud,

yet the harvestⁱ will be as nothing^j

in the day of disease and incurable^k pain.^l

¹²Woe to the many nations that rage^m—

they rage like the raging sea!ⁿ

Woe to the peoples who roar^o—

they roar like the roaring of great waters!^p

¹³Although the peoples roar^q like the roar of surging waters,

when he rebukes^r them they flee^s far away,

driven before the wind like chaff^t on the hills,

like tumbleweed before a gale.^u

¹⁴In the evening, sudden^v terror!^w

Before the morning, they are gone!^x

This is the portion of those who loot us,

the lot of those who plunder us.

A Prophecy Against Cush

18Woe^y to the land of whirring wings^a

along the rivers of Cush,^bz

²which sends envoys^a by sea

in papyrus^b boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,^c

to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive^d nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.^e

³All you people of the world,^f

you who live on the earth,

when a banner^g is raised on the mountains,

you will see it,

and when a trumpet^h sounds,

you will hear it.

⁴This is what the Lord says to me:

“I will remain quietⁱ and will look on from my dwelling place,^j

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,^k

like a cloud of dew^l in the heat of harvest.”

⁵For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut off^m the shoots with pruning knives,

and cut down and take away the spreading branches.ⁿ

⁶They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey^o

and to the wild animals;^p

the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.

⁷At that time gifts^q will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,^r

from a people feared^s far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers^t—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.^u