1THE prophecy concerning the fall of Damascus. Behold, Damascus shall cease to be a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2The cities of Adoer shall be forsaken; they shall be for flocks which shall lie down in them, and none shall harm them.

3The might also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Ephraim will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.

4And in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall wane, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

5And it shall be as when the reaper harvests standing sheaves, and gathers the ears in his arms; and it shall be as he that gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6Yet gleaning shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five on the outermost branches thereof, says the LORD God of Israel.

7In that day a man shall trust in his Maker, and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

8And he shall not trust in the altars, the work of his hands and the work which his fingers have made, neither shall he look at the idols or the images.

9In that day shall his strong cities be like a desolate well, and like an emirate which was left destitute before the children of Israel; so you will become a desolation.

10Because you have forgotten the God your Saviour, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength; therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and shall graft them with strange branches;

11On the day that you plant them, they shall put forth blossoms, and in the morning your seed shall flourish, but the harvest shall be a ruin in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12Woe to the armies of many people, which make a noise like the roaring of the seas! And to the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

13He shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off and shall be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like dry grass before the whirlwind.

14And behold at eveningtide violence; and before the morning they are no more. This is the portion of our oppressor, and the lot of those who plunder us.