The Burden against Damascus 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,a and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,” 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 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 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. Footnotes: 3 a Or The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim , that is, from the northern kingdom of Israel The Holy Bible, Majority Standard Bible, MSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain. The MSB is the Byzantine Majority Text version of the BSB, including the BSB OT plus the NT translated according to the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Majority Text (byzantinetext.com). The MSB includes footnotes for translatable variants from the modern Critical Texts (CT) such as the Nestle Aland GNT, SBL GNT, and Editio Critica Maior. Major variants between the Majority Text (MT) and Textus Receptus (TR) are also noted. For a few passages not included in the MT, the TR translation is denoted with [[brackets]] and also footnoted. This text is a first version draft and is open to public comment and translation recommendations. please send all corrections and recommendations to the Berean Bible Translation Committee through the contact page at Berean.Bible. Bible Hub |