Isaiahchapter 17

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.

4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.

7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

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Chapter summary

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Damascus is taken away from being a city and becomes a ruinous heap, but this burden binds Syria and northern Israel together: the fortress ceases from Ephraim as the kingdom ceases from Damascus, and the glory of Jacob is made thin. Harvest images carry the judgment: a reaper in the valley of Rephaim, an olive tree shaken until only two or three berries remain in the top boughs. In that day men look to their Maker, the Holy One of Israel, and away from altars, Asherim, and sun-images their own fingers made, for Israel has forgotten the God of its salvation and planted pleasant plants whose harvest flees in the day of grief. The chapter closes with roaring nations rushing like mighty waters, rebuked and chased like chaff: terror at eventide, gone before morning.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview

A. 1–6 Damascus a Ruinous Heap, with Gleanings Left
B. 7–11 In That Day a Man Shall Look to His Maker
C. 12–14 The Roar of Many Peoples Rebuked at Eventide

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Deuteronomy 322 verses
- Deuteronomy 32:15But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
- Deuteronomy 32:18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
- Read Deuteronomy 32 →
Isaiah 272 verses
- Isaiah 27:9By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
- Isaiah 27:10Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
- Read Isaiah 27 →
Amos 11 verse
- Amos 1:3Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:
- Read Amos 1 →
Zechariah 91 verse
- Zechariah 9:1The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord.
- Read Zechariah 9 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Isaiah 251 verse
- Isaiah 25:2For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
- Read Isaiah 25 →
Ezekiel 251 verse
- Ezekiel 25:5And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
- Read Ezekiel 25 →
Zephaniah 21 verse
- Zephaniah 2:6And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
- Read Zephaniah 2 →
Deuteronomy 21 verse
- Deuteronomy 2:36From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:
- Read Deuteronomy 2 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.