“1 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.” (Isaiah
17:1-14 AV)