| Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1A pronouncement concerning Damascus: Look, Damascus is no longer a city. It has become a ruined heap. | 1This message came to me concerning Damascus: “Look, the city of Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins. |
| 2The cities of Aroer are abandoned; they will be places for flocks. They will lie down without fear. | 2The towns of Aroer will be deserted. Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed, with no one to chase them away. |
| 3The fortress disappears from Ephraim, and a kingdom from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites. This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. | 3The fortified towns of Israel will also be destroyed, and the royal power of Damascus will end. All that remains of Syria will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,” declares the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. |
| 4On that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and his healthy body will become emaciated. | 4“In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim; its robust body will waste away. |
| 5It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain--his arm harvesting the heads of grain--and as if one had gleaned heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. | 5The whole land will look like a grainfield after the harvesters have gathered the grain. It will be desolate, like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest. |
| 6Only gleanings will be left in Israel, as if an olive tree had been beaten--two or three olives at the very top of the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches. This is the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 6Only a few of its people will be left, like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest. Only two or three remain in the highest branches, four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 7On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. | 7Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. |
| 8They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines they made with their fingers. | 8They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built. |
| 9On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation. | 9Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest, like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when the Israelites came here so long ago. It will be utterly desolate. |
| 10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have failed to remember the rock of your strength; therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out cuttings from exotic vines. | 10Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings. |
| 11On the day that you plant, you will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your seed to sprout, but the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain. | 11They may sprout on the day you set them out; yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes from them. Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain. |
| 12Ah! The roar of many peoples--they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations--they rage like the rumble of rushing water. | 12Listen! The armies of many nations roar like the roaring of the sea. Hear the thunder of the mighty forces as they rush forward like thundering waves. |
| 13The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like tumbleweeds before a gale. | 13But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, God will silence them, and they will run away. They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm. |
| 14In the evening--sudden terror! Before morning--it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us. | 14In the evening Israel waits in terror, but by dawn its enemies are dead. This is the just reward of those who plunder us, a fitting end for those who destroy us. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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