17This message came to me concerning Damascus: “Look, the city of Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins.H4853H1834H1834H5493H5892H4654H45962The towns of Aroer will be deserted. Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed, with no one to chase them away.H5892H6177H5800H5739H7257H27293The fortified towns of Israel will also be destroyed, and the royal power of Damascus will end. All that remains of Syria will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,” declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.H4013H7673H669H4467H1834H7605H758H3519H1121H3478H5002H3068H66354“In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim; its robust body will waste away.H3117H3519H3290H1809H4924H1320H73295The 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.H7105H622H7054H7114H7641H2220H3950H7641H6010H74976Only 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.H5955H7604H5363H2132H8147H7969H1620H7218H534H702H2568H6509H5585H5002H3068H430H34787Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.H3117H120H8159H6213H5869H7200H6918H34788They 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.H8159H4196H4639H3027H7200H676H6213H842H25539Their 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.H3117H4581H5892H5800H2793H534H5800H6440H1121H3478H807710Why? 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.H7911H430H3468H2142H6697H4581H5193H5282H5194H2232H2114H215611They 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.H3117H5194H7735H1242H2233H6524H7105H5067H3117H2470H605H351112Listen! The armies of many nations roar like the roaring of the sea. Hear the thunder of the mighty forces as they rush forward like thundering waves.H1945H1995H7227H5971H1993H1993H3220H7588H3816H7582H3524H432513But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, God will silence them, and they will run away. They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.H3816H7582H7588H7227H4325H1605H5127H4801H7291H4671H2022H6440H7307H1534H6440H549214In the evening Israel waits in terror, but by dawn its enemies are dead. This is the just reward of those who plunder us, a fitting end for those who destroy us.H6256H6153H1091H1242H2506H8154H1486H962
Dublin, OH
will also be destroyed, and the royal power of Damascus will end. All that remains of Syria will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,” declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.H4013
