| NET Bible | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1Here is a message about Damascus: "Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins! | 1The oracle concerning Damascus. "Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become a fallen ruin. |
| 2The cities of Aroer are abandoned. They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace. | 2"The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for flocks to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them. |
| 3Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, and Damascus will lose its kingdom. The survivors in Syria will end up like the splendor of the Israelites," says the LORD who commands armies. | 3"The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel," Declares the LORD of hosts. |
| 4"At that time Jacob's splendor will be greatly diminished, and he will become skin and bones. | 4Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean. |
| 5It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest, and his hand gleans the ear of grain. It will be like one gathering the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. | 5It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the valley of Rephaim. |
| 6There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten--two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches," says the LORD God of Israel. | 6Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost bough, Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 7At that time men will trust in their creator; they will depend on the Holy One of Israel. | 7In that day man will have regard for his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. |
| 8They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. | 8He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, Even the Asherim and incense stands. |
| 9At that time their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation. | 9In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation. |
| 10For you ignore the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines. | 10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god. |
| 11The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease and incurable pain. | 11In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable pain. |
| 12The many nations massing together are as good as dead, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea's waves. The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. | 12Alas, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! |
| 13Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles before a strong gale. | 13The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale. |
| 14In the evening there is sudden terror; by morning they vanish. This is the fate of those who try to plunder us, the destiny of those who try to loot us! | 14At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us. |
| NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. //netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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