17An oracle concerning Damascus: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.H4853H1834H1834H5493H5892H4654H45962The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.H5892H6177H5800H5739H7257H27293The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites," declares the LORD Almighty.H4013H7673H669H4467H1834H7605H758H3519H1121H3478H5002H3068H66354"In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.H3117H3519H3290H1809H4924H1320H73295It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm—as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.H7105H622H7054H7114H7641H2220H3950H7641H6010H74976Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs," declares the LORD, the God of Israel.H5955H7604H5363H2132H8147H7969H1620H7218H534H702H2568H6509H5585H5002H3068H430H34787In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.H3117H120H8159H6213H5869H7200H6918H34788They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.H8159H4196H4639H3027H7200H676H6213H842H25539In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.H3117H4581H5892H5800H2793H534H5800H6440H1121H3478H807710You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,H7911H430H3468H2142H6697H4581H5193H5282H5194H2232H2114H215611though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.H3117H5194H7735H1242H2233H6524H7105H5067H3117H2470H605H351112Oh, the raging of many nations—they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the uproar of the peoples—they roar like the roaring of great waters!H1945H1995H7227H5971H1993H1993H3220H7588H3816H7582H3524H432513Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale.H3816H7582H7588H7227H4325H1605H5127H4801H7291H4671H2022H6440H7307H1534H6440H549214In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.H6256H6153H1091H1242H2506H8154H1486H962
Dublin, OH
