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17 The [a]burden of Damascus.

Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom [b]from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith Jehovah of hosts.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing grain, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the [c]shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel. In that day shall men look unto their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they have respect to that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images. In that day shall their strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it shall be a desolation. 10 For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy [d]strength; therefore thou plantest pleasant plants, and settest it with [e]strange slips. 11 In the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom; but the harvest [f]fleeth away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Ah, the [g]uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! 13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke [h]them, and [i]they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm. 14 At eventide, behold, terror; and before the morning [j]they are not. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

18 Ah, the land [k]of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of [l]Ethiopia; that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, [m]even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation [n]tall and smooth, to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation [o]that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers [p]divide! All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the trumpet is blown, hear ye.

For thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling-place, [q]like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the spreading branches will he take away and cut down. They shall be left together unto the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall a present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts from a people [r]tall and smooth, even from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion.

19 The [s]burden of Egypt.

Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh unto Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will [t]stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall [u]fail in the midst of it; and I will [v]destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek unto the idols, and to the [w]charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And I will [x]give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry. And the rivers shall become foul; the [y]streams of [z]Egypt shall be diminished and dried up; the reeds and flags shall wither away. The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, shall become dry, be driven away, and be no more. And the fishers shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in combed flax, and they that weave [aa]white cloth, shall be confounded. 10 And [ab]the [ac]pillars of Egypt shall be broken in pieces; all they [ad]that work for hire shall be grieved in soul.

11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now; and let them know what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to go astray, that are the corner-stone of her tribes. 14 Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken man [ae]staggereth in his vomit. 15 Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. 16 In that day shall the Egyptians be like unto women; and they shall tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which he shaketh over them. 17 And the land of Judah shall become a terror unto Egypt; [af]every one to whom mention is made thereof shall be afraid, because of the purpose of Jehovah of hosts, which he purposeth against it. 18 In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah of hosts; one shall be called The city of [ag]destruction.

19 In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah. 20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto Jehovah because of oppressors, and he will send them a saviour, and [ah]a defender, and he will deliver them. 21 And Jehovah shall [ai]be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day; yea, they shall worship with sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow a vow unto Jehovah, and shall perform it. 22 And Jehovah will smite Egypt, smiting and healing; and they shall return unto Jehovah, and he will be entreated of them, and will heal them.

23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; 25 for that Jehovah of hosts hath blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:1 Or, oracle concerning
  2. Isaiah 17:3 Or, from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria shall etc.
  3. Isaiah 17:6 Hebrew beating.
  4. Isaiah 17:10 Or, stronghold
  5. Isaiah 17:10 Or, vine slips of a strange god
  6. Isaiah 17:11 Or, shall be a heap
  7. Isaiah 17:12 Or, multitude
  8. Isaiah 17:13 Hebrew him.
  9. Isaiah 17:13 Hebrew he.
  10. Isaiah 17:14 Hebrew he is.
  11. Isaiah 18:1 Or, shadowing with wings
  12. Isaiah 18:1 Hebrew Cush.
  13. Isaiah 18:2 Or, and
  14. Isaiah 18:2 Or, dragged away and peeled
  15. Isaiah 18:2 Or, meted out and trodden down Hebrew of line, line, and of treading down.
  16. Isaiah 18:2 Or, have despoiled
  17. Isaiah 18:4 Or, when there is
  18. Isaiah 18:7 Or, dragged away and peeled
  19. Isaiah 19:1 Or, oracle concerning
  20. Isaiah 19:2 Or, join together. Or, arm
  21. Isaiah 19:3 Hebrew be emptied.
  22. Isaiah 19:3 Hebrew swallow up.
  23. Isaiah 19:3 Or, whisperers
  24. Isaiah 19:4 Or, shut up
  25. Isaiah 19:6 Or, canals
  26. Isaiah 19:6 Hebrew Mazor.
  27. Isaiah 19:9 Or, cotton
  28. Isaiah 19:10 Hebrew her pillars.
  29. Isaiah 19:10 Or, foundations
  30. Isaiah 19:10 Or, that make dams
  31. Isaiah 19:14 Or, goeth astray
  32. Isaiah 19:17 Or, every one that maketh mention thereof, to him shall they turn in fear
  33. Isaiah 19:18 Or, Heres. Or, according to another reading, the sun
  34. Isaiah 19:20 Or, a mighty one
  35. Isaiah 19:21 Or, make himself known