Isaiah 17

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Proclamation about Damascus: Damascus wil soon cease to be a city, it wil become a heap of ruins.	1 Oracle on Damascus: Lo, Damascus shall cease to be a city and become a ruin;
2 Its towns, abandoned for ever, wil be pastures for flocks; there they wil rest with no one to disturbthem.	2 Her cities shall be forever abandoned, given over to flocks to lie in undisturbed.
3 Ephraim wil be stripped of its defences and Damascus of its sovereignty; and the remnant of Aram wilbe treated like the glory of the Israelites -- declares Yahweh Sabaoth.	3 The fortress shall be lost to Ephraim and the kingdom to Damascus; The remnant of Aram shall have the same glory as the Israelites, says the LORD of hosts.
4 When that day comes, Jacob's glory wil diminish, from being fat he wil grow lean;	4 On that day The glory of Jacob shall fade, and his full body grow thin,
5 as when a reaper gathers in the standing corn, harvesting the ears of corn with his arm, or when theyglean the ears in the Val ey of Rephaim,	5 Like the reaper's mere armful of stalks when he gathers the standing grain; Or as when one gleans the ears in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 nothing wil remain but pickings, as when an olive tree is beaten; two or three berries left on thetopmost bough, four or five berries on the branches of the tree -- declares Yahweh, God of Israel.	6 Only a scattering of grapes shall be left! As when an olive tree has been beaten, Two or three olives remain at the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches, says the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 That day, a man wil look to his Creator and his eyes wil turn to the Holy One of Israel.	7 On that day man shall look to his maker, his eyes turned toward the Holy One of Israel.
8 He will no longer look to altars, his own handiwork, or to what his own fingers have made: the sacredpoles and incense-altars.	8 He shall not look to the altars, his handiwork, nor shall he regard what his fingers have made: the sacred poles or the incense stands.
9 That day, its cities of refuge wil be abandoned as were the woods and heaths at the Israelites'advance: there wil be desolation.	9 On that day his strong cities shall be like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites When faced with the children of Israel: they shall be laid waste.
10 Since you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and failed to keep the Rock, your refuge, in mind,you plant pleasure-gardens, you sow exotic seeds;	10 For you have forgotten God, your savior, and remembered not the Rock, your strength. Therefore, though you plant your pagan plants and set out your foreign vine slips,
11 the day you plant them, you get them to sprout, and, next morning, your seedlings are in flower; butthe harvest wil vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.	11 Though you make them grow the day you plant them and make your sprouts blossom on the next morning, The harvest shall disappear on the day of the grievous blow, the incurable blight.
12 Disaster! The thunder of vast hordes, a thunder like the thunder of the seas, the roar of nationsroaring like the roar of mighty floods,	12 Ah! the roaring of many peoples that roar like the roar of the seas! The surging of nations that surge like the surging of mighty waves!
13 of nations roaring like the roar of ocean! He rebukes them and far away they flee, driven like chaff onthe mountains before the wind, like an eddy of dust before the storm.	13 But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away; Windswept, like chaff on the mountains, like tumbleweed in a storm.
14 At evening al is terror, by morning al have disappeared. Such wil be the lot of those who plunder us,such, the fate of our despoilers.	14 In the evening, they spread terror, before morning, they are gone! Such is the portion of those who despoil us, the lot of those who plunder us.