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About this chapterDamascus, capital of Aram, will become a heap of ruins, and Israel's fortified cities will be abandoned because the northern kingdom made an alliance with it rather than trusting God. Jacob's glory will fade like a harvested field, with only a few gleanings left, like olives on the topmost branches. In that day people will look to their Maker and turn from the altars and idols their hands have made. Because Israel forgot the God of its salvation and planted pleasant gardens for foreign gods, its harvest will be grief. The nations roar like the sea, but God rebukes them, and they flee like chaff before the wind.

Damascus, capital of Aram, will become a heap of ruins, and Israel's fortified cities will be abandoned because the northern kingdom made an alliance with it rather than trusting God. Jacob's glory will fade like a harvested field, with only a few gleanings left, like olives on the topmost branches. In that day people will look to their Maker and turn from the altars and idols their hands have made. Because Israel forgot the God of its salvation and planted pleasant gardens for foreign gods, its harvest will be grief. The nations roar like the sea, but God rebukes them, and they flee like chaff before the wind.

Themes

  • Judgment on Damascus and Israel
  • Forgetting God
  • A remnant looks to its Maker

Key verses

Audio Bible · Isaiah 17

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Isaiah 17

Berean Standard Bible14 verses · 2 min read

1This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins. 2The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear. 3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,”declares the LORD of Hosts. 4“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and the fat of his body will waste away, 5as the reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the ears with his arm, as one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. 6Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten— two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,”declares the LORD, the God of Israel. 7In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. 8They will not look to the altars they have fashioned with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they have made with their fingers. 9In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation. 10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines— 11though on the day you plant you make them grow, and on that morning you help your seed sprout— yet the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain. 12Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters. 13The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale. 14In the evening, there is sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us and the lot of those who plunder us.
Verses in Isaiah 17

Chapters of Isaiah

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