The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New International Version NIV
1 This is a prophecy about Dammesek: "Dammesek will soon stop being a city; it will become a heap of ruins.
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A prophecy against Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of 'Aro'er will be abandoned, given over to flocks lying down undisturbed.
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The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.
3 Efrayim will have no defenses, Dammesek will cease to rule, and Aram's survivors will share the fate of Isra'el's finest sons," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.
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The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,” declares the LORD Almighty.
4 "When that day comes, Ya'akov's glory will wane, and his full body grow thin,
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“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.
5 as when the harvester collects the standing grain, reaping the ears of grain with his arm; yes, as when they glean the grain in the Refa'im Valley.
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It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms— as when someone gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet gleanings will be left, as when beating an olive tree - two or three olives at the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches," says ADONAI, the God of Isra'el.
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Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 On that day, a person will heed his Maker and turn his eyes toward the Holy One of Isra'el.
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In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 He will pay no heed to the altars made with his own hands, he will not turn toward what his fingers made, the sacred poles and standing-stones for sun-worship.
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They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah polesand the incense altars their fingers have made.
9 When that day comes, his strong cities, which others abandoned when Isra'el advanced, will be like abandoned woods and forests; they will be laid waste.
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In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
10 For you have forgotten the God who saved you, failed to remember the Rock of your strength; so you plant pagan-style gardens and set out vine-cuttings for a foreign god.
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You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,
11 Though you make them grow on the day you plant them, and in the morning your seedlings flower; the crop will vanish the day disease comes, a day of incurable pain.
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though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the terror-stricken uproar of many peoples, roaring like the roar of the seas, and the rushing about of nations, rushing and surging like wild, wild waters!
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Woe to the many nations that rage— they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar— they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Yes, the nations will roar like the mighty ocean, but he will rebuke them, and far will they flee, driven like chaff by a mountain wind, like whirling dust in advance of the storm.
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Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 As evening falls, you can see terror; before sunrise, they have ceased to be. This is the lot of those who plunder us, the fate of those who prey on us.
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In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.