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Isaiah 17
Easy-to-Read Version
Isaiah 17
Easy-to-Read Version
God’s Message to Aram
17 This is a message[a] about Damascus[b]:
“Damascus is now a city, but it will be destroyed.
Only ruined buildings will be left there.
2 People will leave the cities of Aroer.[c]
Flocks of sheep will wander freely in those empty towns;
there will be no one to bother them.
3 The fort cities of Ephraim will be destroyed.
The government in Damascus will be finished.
Those left in Aram will lose everything,
just like the people of Israel,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
4 “At that time Jacob’s wealth will all be gone.
Yes, Israel will be like a sick man who has become weak and thin.
5 “That time will be like the grain harvest in Rephaim Valley.[d] The workers gather the plants that grow in the field. Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants and collect the grain.
6 “That time will also be like the olive harvest. People knock olives from the trees, but a few olives are usually left at the top of each tree. Four or five olives are left on some of the top branches. It will be the same for those cities,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
7 Then the people will look up to the one who made them. Their eyes will see the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will not trust the great things they have made. They will not go to the special gardens[e] and altars[f] they made for false gods. 9 At that time all the walled cities will be empty. They will be like the mountains and the forests[g] in the land before the Israelites came. In the past, all the people ran away because the Israelites were coming. In the future, the country will be empty again. 10 This will happen because you have forgotten the God who saves you. You have not remembered that God is your place of safety.
You brought some very good grapevines from faraway places. You might plant those grapevines, but they will not grow. 11 You will plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow, and the next day they will blossom. But at harvest time, you will go to gather the fruit from the plants, and you will see that everything is dead. A sickness will kill all the plants.
12 Listen to all these people!
Their loud crying sounds like the noise from the sea.
Listen, it is like the crashing of waves in the sea.
13 And like the waves,
they will rush away when God speaks harshly to them.
They will be like chaff blown away by the wind.
They will be like weeds chased by a storm.
14 That night, the people will be frightened.
By morning, nothing will be left.
So our enemies will get nothing.
They will come to our land, but nothing will be there.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:1 message Or “burden.”
- Isaiah 17:1 Damascus A city in the country of Aram (Syria).
- Isaiah 17:2 Aroer A place in the country of Aram (Syria).
- Isaiah 17:5 Rephaim Valley A valley southwest of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 17:8 special gardens Gardens where people worshiped false gods.
- Isaiah 17:8 altars These might be altars for burning incense, or they might be altars for worshiping a special false god.
- Isaiah 17:9 mountains and the forests With a minor change in the Hebrew, this could be “the Horites and Amorites.”
Isaiah 17
New International Version
Isaiah 17
New International Version
A Prophecy Against Damascus
17 A prophecy(A) against Damascus:(B)
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.(C)
2 The cities of Aroer(D) will be deserted
and left to flocks,(E) which will lie down,(F)
with no one to make them afraid.(G)
3 The fortified(H) city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory(I) of the Israelites,”(J)
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day(K) the glory(L) of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste(M) away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering(N) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain(O)
in the Valley of Rephaim.(P)
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,(Q)
as when an olive tree is beaten,(R)
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 day(S) people will look(T) to their Maker(U)
and turn their eyes to the Holy One(V) of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,(W)
the work of their hands,(X)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[a](Y)
and the incense altars their fingers(Z) 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.(AA) And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten(AB) God your Savior;(AC)
you have not remembered the Rock,(AD) your fortress.(AE)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,(AF)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning(AG) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest(AH) will be as nothing(AI)
in the day of disease and incurable(AJ) pain.(AK)
12 Woe to the many nations that rage(AL)—
they rage like the raging sea!(AM)
Woe to the peoples who roar(AN)—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!(AO)
13 Although the peoples roar(AP) like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes(AQ) them they flee(AR) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff(AS) on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.(AT)
14 In the evening, sudden(AU) terror!(AV)
Before the morning, they are gone!(AW)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
New International Version (NIV) 
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