171 The oracle concerning Damascus . "Behold , Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become a fallen ruin . 2 "The cities of Aroer are forsaken ; They will be for flocks to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them. 3 "The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim , And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram ; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel ," Declares the Lord of hosts .
4 Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade , And the fatness of his flesh will become lean . 5 It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain , As his arm harvests the ears , Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the valley of Rephaim .
6 Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree , Two or three olives on the topmost e bough , Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree , Declares the Lord , the God of Israel . 7 In that day man will have regard for his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel . 8 He will not have regard for the altars , the work of his hands , Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made , Even the Asherim and incense stands .
9 In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest , Or like branches which they abandoned before e the sons of Israel ; And the land will be a desolation . 10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge . Therefore e you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god. 11 In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom ; But the harvest will be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable pain .
12 Alas , the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas , And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters ! 13 The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters , But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away , And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind , Or like whirling dust before a gale . 14 At evening time , behold , there is terror ! Before morning they are no more . Such will be the portion of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.
