1The “Damascus” Pronouncement.Behold,Damascus shall cease to be a city;It shall become a heap of ruins.
2The towns of Aroer shall be deserted;aThe towns of Aroer shall be deserted Emendation yields (cf. Septuagint) “Its towns shall be deserted forevermore.” They shall be a place for flocksTo lie down, with none disturbing.
3Fortresses shall cease from Ephraim,bEphraim Emendation yields “Aram.” And sovereignty from Damascus;The remnant of Aram shall becomeLike the mass of Israelites—declares GOD of Hosts.
4In that day,The mass of Jacob shall dwindle,And the fatness of his body become lean:
5After being like the standing grainHarvested by the reaper—Who reaps ears by the armful—He shall be like the ears that are gleanedIn the Valley of Rephaim.
6Only gleanings shall be left of him,As when one beats an olive tree:Two berries or three on the topmost branch,Four or five on the boughs of the crowncon the boughs of the crown Lit. “on her boughs, the many-branched one.” —declares the ETERNAL, the God of Israel.
7In that day, people shall turn to their Maker, their eyes look to the Holy One of Israel;
8they shall not turn to the altars that their own hands made, or look to the sacred postsdsacred posts Used in worship of the goddess Asherah. and incense stands that their own fingers wrought.
9In that day, their fortress cities shall be like the deserted sites that the Horesh and the Amirethe Horesh and the Amir Septuagint reads “the Amorites and the Hivites.” abandoned because of the Israelites; and there shall be desolation.
10Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves youAnd have not remembered the Rock who shelters you;That is why, though you plant a delightfulfdelightful Emendation yields “true.” So Vulgate (cf. Septuagint); cf. Jer. 2.21. sapling,What you sow proves a disappointing slip.
11On the day that you plant, you see it grow;On the morning you sow, you see it bud—But the branches wither awayOn a day of sickness and mortal agony.
12Ah, the roar of many peoplesThat roar as roars the sea,The rage of nations that rageAs rage the mighty waters—
13Nations raging like massive waters!But [God] shouts at them, and they flee far away,Driven like chaff before winds in the hills,And like tumbleweed before a gale.
14At eventide, lo, terror!By morning, it is no more.Such is the lot of our despoilers,The portion of them that plunder us.