A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecyb against Damascus:c

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city

but will become a heap of ruins.d

2 The cities of Aroere will be deserted

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

with no one to make them afraid.h

3 The fortifiedi city will disappear from Ephraim,

and royal power from Damascus;

the remnant of Aram will be

like the gloryj of the Israelites,”k

declares the Lord Almighty.

4 “In that dayl the glorym of Jacob will fade;

the fat of his body will wasten away.

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

gatheringo the grain in their arms—

as when someone gleans heads of grainp

in the Valley of Rephaim.q

6 Yet 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.

7 In that dayt people will looku to their Makerv

and turn their eyes to the Holy Onew of Israel.

8 They will not look to the altars,x

the work of their hands,y

and they will have no regard for the Asherah polesa z

and the incense altars their fingersa have made.

9 In 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.

10 You have forgottenc 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

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

and on the morningh when you plant them, you bring them to bud,

yet the harvesti will be as nothingj

in the day of disease and incurablek pain.l

12 Woe to the many nations that ragem—

they rage like the raging sea!n

Woe to the peoples who roaro—

they roar like the roaring of great waters!p

13 Although the peoples roarq like the roar of surging waters,

when he rebukesr them they flees far away,

driven before the wind like chafft on the hills,

like tumbleweed before a gale.u

14 In the evening, suddenv 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

18 Woey to the land of whirring wingsa

along the rivers of Cush,b z

2 which sends envoysa by sea

in papyrusb boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,c

to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressived nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.e

3 All you people of the world,f

you who live on the earth,

when a bannerg is raised on the mountains,

you will see it,

and when a trumpeth sounds,

you will hear it.

4 This 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 dewl in the heat of harvest.”

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

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut offm the shoots with pruning knives,

and cut down and take away the spreading branches.n

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of preyo

and to the wild animals;p

the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.

7 At that time giftsq will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,r

from a people feareds far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by riverst—

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

A Prophecy Against Egypt

19 A prophecyv against Egypt:w

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloudx

and is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians melty with fear.

2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

brother will fight against brother,z

neighbor against neighbor,

city against city,

kingdom against kingdom.a

3 The Egyptians will lose heart,b

and I will bring their plansc to nothing;d

they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

the mediums and the spiritists.e

4 I will hand the Egyptians over

to the power of a cruel master,

and a fierce kingf will rule over them,”

declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

5 The waters of the river will dry up,g

and the riverbed will be parched and dry.h

6 The canals will stink;i

the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.j

The reedsk and rushes will wither,l

7 also the plantsm along the Nile,

at the mouth of the river.

Every sown fieldn along the Nile

will become parched, will blow away and be no more.o

8 The fishermenp will groan and lament,

all who cast hooksq into the Nile;

those who throw nets on the water

will pine away.

9 Those who work with combed flaxr will despair,

the weavers of fine linens will lose hope.

10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,

and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

11 The officials of Zoant are nothing but fools;

the wise counselorsu of Pharaoh give senseless advice.v

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise men,w

a disciple of the ancient kings”?

12 Where are your wise menx now?

Let them show you and make known

what the Lord Almighty

has plannedy against Egypt.

13 The officials of Zoanz have become fools,

the leaders of Memphisa are deceived;

the cornerstonesb of her peoples

have led Egypt astray.

14 The Lord has poured into them

a spirit of dizziness;c

they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

as a drunkard staggersd around in his vomit.

15 There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm branch or reed.e

16 In that dayf the Egyptians will become weaklings.g They will shudder with fearh at the uplifted handi that the Lord Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified,j because of what the Lord Almighty is planningk against them.

18 In that dayl five citiesm in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiancen to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.a o

19 In that dayp there will be an altarq to the Lord in the heart of Egypt,r and a monuments to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witnesst to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savioru and defender, and he will rescuev them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledgew the Lord. They will worshipx with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.y 22 The Lord will strikez Egypt with a plague;a he will strike them and heal them. They will turnb to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and healc them.

23 In that dayd there will be a highwaye from Egypt to Assyria.f The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worshipg together. 24 In that dayh Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria,i a blessingb j on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will blessk them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people,l Assyria my handiwork,m and Israel my inheritance.n”