The Holy Bible

An Oracle Against Damascus

oracle concerning Damascus.

“Behold, Damascus will no longer be a city,
but it will become a heap of ruins. 2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted;
they will be places for flocks to lie down, with none left to disturb them. 3 The fortress shall cease from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be
like the splendour of the sons of Israel,” says the Lord of Hosts.

4 “On that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
and the fatness of his flesh will grow lean. 5 It will be as when the reaper gathers standing grain,
and harvests the heads of grain with his arm— as when a man gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet some gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten— two or three olives at the very top of the tree,
four or five on the most fruitful branches,” says the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 On that day men will look to their Maker;
they will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will not look to the altars
they have made with their own hands, or to the Asherah poles and altars of incense
they made with their own fingers.

9 On that day their strong cities
will be like abandoned thickets and undergrowth, which they left because of the people of Israel;
and there will be desolation.

10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to be mindful of the Rock of your strength, therefore you will plant pleasant plants,
and set out cuttings from exotic vines. 11 On the day that you plant them,
you help them grow, and on the morning that you sow them,
you help your seed to sprout; yet the harvest will come to nothing
in a day of disease and incurable pain.

12 Ah, the roar of many peoples,
they roar like the roaring of the sea! Ah, the raging of the nations,
they rage like the raging of mighty waters! 13 The nations rage like the raging of many waters;
but He will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, driven like chaff before the wind on the hills,
and like swirling dust before the whirlwind. 14 Then in the evening, sudden terror!
Then before the morning, they are gone! This is the fate of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.