Isaiah 17:4–11

⁴“In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim;

its robust body will waste away.

⁵The whole land will look like a grainfield

after the harvesters have gathered the grain.

It will be desolate,

like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.

⁶Only a few of its people will be left,

like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.

Only two or three remain in the highest branches,

four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,”

declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷Then at last the people will look to their Creator

and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸They will no longer look to their idols for help

or worship what their own hands have made.

They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles

or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.

⁹Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest,

like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned

when the Israelites came here so long ago.

It will be utterly desolate.

¹⁰Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you.

You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you.

So you may plant the finest grapevines

and import the most expensive seedlings.

¹¹They may sprout on the day you set them out;

yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them,

but you will never pick any grapes from them.

Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.