An Oracle Concerning Damascus

1An oracle concerning Damascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city

and will become a heap of ruins.

2The cities of Aroer are deserted;

they will be for flocks,

which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.

3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,

and the kingdom from Damascus;

and the remnant of Syria will be

like the glory of the children of Israel,

declares the LORD of hosts.

4And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low,

and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.

5And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing corn

and his arm harvests the ears,

and as when one gleans the ears of corn

in the Valley of Rephaim.

6Gleanings will be left in it,

as when an olive tree is beaten—

two or three berries

in the top of the highest bough,

four or five

on the branches of a fruit tree,

declares the LORD God of Israel.

7In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.

9In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;

therefore, though you plant pleasant plants

and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,

11though you make them grow17:11 Or though you carefully fence them on the day that you plant them,

and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,

yet the harvest will flee away17:11 Or will be a heap

in a day of grief and incurable pain.

12Ah, the thunder of many peoples;

they thunder like the thundering of the sea!

Ah, the roar of nations;

they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

13The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,

but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,

chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind

and whirling dust before the storm.

14At evening time, behold, terror!

Before morning, they are no more!

This is the portion of those who loot us,

and the lot of those who plunder us.