Isa 17 | ESV | STEP | An oracle concerning Damascus . Behold , Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins .

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of ^cAroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and ^dnone will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from ^eEphraim,
and the kingdom from ^fDamascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like ^gthe glory of the children of Israel,

declares the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day ^hthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and ⁱthe fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be ^jas when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in ^kthe Valley of Rephaim.
6 ^lGleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,

declares the Lord God of Israel.

7 ^mIn that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 ⁿHe will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the ^oAsherim or the altars of incense.

9 ^pIn that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

10 For ^qyou have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the ^rRock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow ^{▼▼Or though you carefully fence them} on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away ^{▼▼Or will be a heap}
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, ^uthe thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 ^vThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
^wbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased ^xlike chaff on the mountains before the wind
and ^ywhirling dust before the storm.
14 ^zAt evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.