Isaiah 17:3

3 Ephraim's people will no longer have cities with high walls around them. Royal power will disappear from Damascus. Those who are left alive in Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel," announces the LORD who rules over all.

Isaiah 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 17:3

The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim
The ten tribes, now in confederacy with the Syrians, whose metropolis or fortress was Samaria, which seems to be intended here; and should be destroyed, at least taken out of the hands of the Israelites, and they be carried captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, ( 2 Kings 17:6 ) and this may be understood, not of that particular city and fortress only, but of all their strongholds, the singular being, put for the plural. The Targum is, "the government shall cease from Ephraim"; they shall have no more a king over them, nor have they to this day: and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria;
Damascus was the head city of Syria, where the kings of Syria had their palace; but now that and the rest of Syria should no more be a kingdom of itself, but should be subject unto others, as it has been ever since: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the
Lord of hosts;
that is, the Syrians, who were in alliance with Israel, should share the same fate; should be carried captive as they were; should have their metropolis and other cities, and their whole kingdom, taken from them, and be stripped of their grandeur and wealth, and have no more glory than they had; which was none at all; or at least very small, as the next verse shows ( Isaiah 17:4 ) .

Isaiah 17:3 In-Context

1 Here is a message the LORD gave me about Damascus. He said, "Damascus will not be a city anymore. Instead, all of its buildings will be knocked down.

2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted. They will be left to the flocks that lie down there. No one will make them afraid.

3 Ephraim's people will no longer have cities with high walls around them. Royal power will disappear from Damascus. Those who are left alive in Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel," announces the LORD who rules over all.

4 "In days to come, the glory of Jacob's people will fade. Their strength will get weaker and weaker.

5 It will be as when a worker cuts and gathers grain in the Valley of Rephaim. He gathers up stalks with his arms. Only a few heads of grain are left.