Isaiah 17:1-14 VOICE

[1] A message about Damascus: Eternal One: So much for the "city of Damascus." It's done for. Soon it will be just a pile of rubble. [2] The towns around it will empty of people and be turned back to open land. Imagine-sheep grazing and lying down where people used to live. There won't be a soul to scare them off. [3] The defenses of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, will fall- Ephraim's fortress walls will tumble down; Damascus will no longer rule itself. Aram-what is left of them-will resemble Israel's fading glory. That's what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says. [4] Eternal One: Israel will be humbled then too; our cousins, the children of Jacob, will lose their luster, their wealth and excess. [5] The land will resemble a field stripped until it is nearly bare, like when the harvest has come and gone, like the meager grain gleaned in the valley of Rephaim. [6] But some gleanings will remain like when olive trees are beaten, Where two or three olives remain at the top of a tree and four or five hold on tight to its fruitful branches. So says the Eternal One, Israel's God. [7] Then, in that day, people will turn to the One who shaped them. They'll look on the Creator, the Holy One of Israel, [8] And disregard the things they'd made into gods. They'll turn away from worthless, handmade objects, sacred poles, and incense altars. [9] And then, in that day, their great cities will be abandoned like defenseless outposts in a hilly forest, Like those deserted when the Israelites took the land; the scene will be eerily quiet and empty. [10] You have proven forgetful of God-how God pulls you clear of danger, how God stands firm, like a great Rock where you can take shelter. Because you have forgotten the one True God, you planted pleasant gardens and set out tender vines of a strange god. [11] They sprouted so quickly the day you set them out; they budded immediately the morning you planted them; But you will never gather any sweet grapes from them. What you reap will be illness and pain; that day will be filled with sadness. [12] Listen to the restless roar of the peoples! They roar like a fitful sea. Listen to the crashing thunder of the nations; they thunder like a powerful surge of water. [13] But even if they thunder like a wall of water, when God rebukes them, they will run far away; With a word they'll be driven like chaff in a mountain gust or dust in a windstorm. [14] In the evening, look, their enemies terrorize them; but by morning, they're gone. So it will be for those who attack and steal from us; those who take, take, take will come to nothing and run away.