Read Isaiah chapter 17 (Contemporary English Version) on maBible, the Bible online. In this chapter: Damascus Will Be Punished, Sin and Suffering, God Defends His People.
Damascus Will Be Punished
1 This is a message about Damascus:
Damascus is doomed!
It will end up in ruins.
2 The villages around Aroer
will be deserted,
with only sheep living there
and no one to bother them.
3 Israel will lose its fortresses.
The kingdom of Damascus
will be destroyed;
its survivors will suffer
the same fate as Israel.
The Lord All-Powerful
has promised this.
Sin and Suffering
4 When that time comes,
the glorious nation of Israel
will be brought down;
its prosperous people
will be skin and bones.
5 Israel will be like wheat fields
in Rephaim Valley
picked clean of grain.
6 It will be like an olive tree
beaten with a stick,
leaving two or three olives
or maybe four or five
on the highest
or most fruitful branches.
The Lord God of Israel
has promised this.
7 At that time the people will turn and trust their Creator, the holy God of Israel.
8 They have built altars and places for burning incense to their goddess Asherah, and they have set up sacred poles for her. But they will stop worshiping at these places.
9 Israel captured powerful cities and chased out the people who lived there. But these cities will lie in ruins, covered over with weeds and underbrush.
10 Israel, you have forgotten
the God who saves you,
the one who is the mighty rock
where you find protection.
You plant the finest flowers
to honor a foreign god.
11 The plants may sprout
and blossom
that very same morning,
but it will do you no good,
because you will suffer
endless agony.
13 But even if they roar
like a fearsome flood,
God will give the command
to turn them back.
They will be like dust,
or like a tumbleweed
blowing across the hills
in a windstorm.
14 In the evening
their attack is fierce,
but by morning
they are destroyed.
This is what happens to those
who raid and rob us.
Chapter themes
Un message de Dieu — Message sur Damas
La ville de Damas — Damas
Elle sera supprimée — Damas sera supprimée; elle ne sera plus une ville
Un tas de ruines — elle ne sera qu'un tas de ruines
Les villes d'Aroër — Les villes qui dépendent d'Aroër seront abandonnées
Livrées aux troupeaux — livrées aux troupeaux
Sans personne pour effrayer — sans plus personne pour les effrayer
La forteresse d'Éphraïm — forteresse d'Ephraïm
La gloire d'Israël — gloire des Israélites
La gloire de Jacob — la gloire de Jacob diminuera
L'embonpoint qui fond — son embonpoint fondra
Le temps de la moisson — Ce sera comme lorsque le moissonneur récolte les gerbes de blé
La vallée — dans la vallée
La vallée des Rephaïm — des Rephaïm
Détourner le regard des autels — Son regard ne se portera plus sur les autels
L'œuvre de ses mains — qu'il a faits de ses mains… ce que ses doigts ont fabriqué
Poteaux et piliers sacrés — les poteaux sacrés et les piliers consacrés au soleil
Tu as oublié Dieu — tu as oublié
Le Dieu qui sauve — le Dieu qui était ton Sauveur
Le rocher refuge — du rocher qui te servait de refuge
Des plantations sans fruit — tu as planté des jardins d'agrément
La récolte enfuie — la récolte s'est enfuie
Un mal sans remède — le mal est sans remède
La foule des peuples — peuples, dans leur nombre
Le grondement de la mer — Leur vacarme est pareil au grondement de la mer
Une eau puissante — pareil à celui d'une eau puissante
Notes and references
17.1-3 Jr 49.23-27; Am 1.3-5; Zec 9.1.
Aroer: Either a city near Damascus with the same name as the Moabite city or the Moabite city itself, here used as an example of what will happen to Damascus.
Israel: The Hebrew text has “Ephraim,” another name for the northern kingdom.
sacred poles: Or “trees,” used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility.
covered … underbrush: Hebrew; one ancient translation “like the cities of the Hivites and the Amorites.”
mighty rock: The Hebrew text has “rock,” which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the Lord to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.