17 The
burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city,
and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2 The
cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie
down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 The
fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus,
and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of
Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 And
in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made
thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 5 And
it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the
ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley
of Rephaim. 6 Yet
gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree,
two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in
the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. 7 At
that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect
to the Holy One of Israel.
8
And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall
respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images. 9 In that
day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch,
which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. 10 Because
thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful
of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants,
and shalt set it with strange slips: 11 In
the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou
make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of
grief and of desperate sorrow. 12 Woe
to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the
seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing
of mighty waters! 13 The
nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke
them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the
mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14 And
behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is
the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.